Here We Go Again
by Red Nevada Rose
Summary: ***Previously titled "Modern Amore"***A modern-day love story of Meg and Hercules. Its way better than this summary makes it sound. Trust me. rated K except for some language in chapter 13.
1. Prolouge

I really wanted to start a love story about Megara and Hercules from my favorite Disney movie, Hercules. But I didn't really want it to be set in ancient Greece. So it's some of the same plot line. But in a modern-day world. It's told from Meg's perspective.

So here are the first few paragraphs of chapter 1. If anyone really cares enough to read it and leave a comment, I swear I'll love you forever. Here we go:

I own only the plot line, Blake, Maxie, Felicity, Iris, Shelly, Anthony, and Alexander. Everything else belongs to Disney.

I paused the video as it zoomed in on me blowing out the candles on the cake for my 5th birthday, my mom hugging me after I made my wish. The sound of my parent's "Happy Birthday Meg!" wish hung in the air. That was thirteen years ago. I remember wishing for my parents to always be there. I guess my wish came true when I was fifteen years old and my parents were hit by a drunk driver. After that I was taken in by my uncle Hades, of all people. You know that one crazy uncle everyone has in their family? Well, lucky me, I'm stuck with him.  
It's not like he's horrible. In a few ways he can be, but as long as I have somewhere to sleep, someone paying for school, and someone feeding me, I'm okay. I always have my friends, Blake, Maxie, Felicity, Iris, and Shelly just down the street, always ready for me when I need to spend time with girls other than my uncle and his two twin boys, Alexander and Anthony.  
After staring at the TV screen long enough, I started the video again. It showed my two parents and my neighbors from long ago. You could see the sun setting in the window, going behind the rolling hills of the California countryside and illuminating the barn, along with the horses and cows we raised. Now I lived in Uncle Hades' Los Angeles townhouse, 5 minutes away from the beach. Of course I loved it, but every now and then I wanted to swap the sea salt smell and the cars for the scent of fresh hay and rumble of tractors.


	2. Chapter 1: Happy Birthday

I do not own anything except for the plotline, Meg's friends, Anthony and Alexander. Everything else is Disney's.

Chapter 1

I paused the video as it zoomed in on me blowing out the candles on the cake for my 5th birthday, my mom hugging me after I made my wish. The sound of my parent's "Happy Birthday Meg!" wish hung in the air. That was thirteen years ago. I remember wishing for my parents to always be there. I guess my wish came true when I was fifteen years old and my parents were hit by a drunk driver. After that I was taken in by my uncle Hades, of all people. You know that one crazy uncle everyone has in their family? Well, lucky me, I'm stuck with him.

It's not like he's horrible. In a few ways he can be, but as long as I have somewhere to sleep, someone paying for school, and someone feeding me, I'm okay. I always have my friends, Blake, Maxie, Felicity, Iris, and Shelly just down the street, always ready for me when I need to spend time with girls other than my uncle and his two twin boys, Alexander and Anthony.

After staring at the TV screen long enough, I started the video again. It showed my two parents and my neighbors from long ago. You could see the sun setting in the window, going behind the rolling hills of the California countryside and illuminating the barn, along with the horses and cows we raised. Now I lived in Uncle Hades' Los Angeles townhouse, 5 minutes away from the beach. Of course I loved it, but every now and then I wanted to swap the sea salt smell and the cars for the scent of fresh hay and rumble of tractors.

I looked at the clock by my bed. 2:30 pm. It read. _Great, _I thought, _I'm late._ I was supposed to meet my friends at their house (They all lived in the same house because of schooling.). Apparently they had some school project they wanted to work on and me to help, when I really knew it was a plan to kidnap me and take me someplace for my birthday. Just to make them believe I didn't know I kept my pajamas that I had worn all day on. I grabbed my keys, phone, and wallet and headed downstairs

"Where do you think you're going?" Hades questioned when I started heading for the front door.

"Out." I casually said. I knew he wanted to know more, but the more stubborn and un-informational I acted, the more he would get off my case about knowing everywhere I went and everything I did.

He turned toward me, away from the game he was watching, "Are you sure you don't want to stay home for your birthday?"

I raised an eyebrow. _Since when did HE want to me to stick around? _"Well unless you REALLY want to listen to me talk about girl things, like bras and periods, sure. I'll stay." I set down my bag on the couch and sat down next to him.

"Never mind. You go have fun." He turned back towards the TV. I picked up my bag and walked to my light blue BMW bug. As I sped down the short drive to my friends', I considered all the places they were planning to possibly take me to.

I didn't need to ring the doorbell. I just walked right in without a notice. I could hear music upstairs from Blake's room and them yelling at each other to find a hiding place and turn off the lights before I got there. "ANYONE HOME?!" I yelled up. It got quiet all of a sudden, then I saw Blake's brunette head poke out of the door.

"We're up here, Meg." She called back. Then she went back in and the music turned off and the sound of feet rushing towards a hiding spot was heard. I walked up the stairs, slowly just to get on their nerves.

"Oh, come ON!!!!" Shelly yelled. I laughed and sped up. When I walked in, it was funny. They weren't hiding like we usually do for one of our birthdays.

"Hey guys. So when are we going to work on this big project of yours?" I asked them. They looked around at each other. That's when I noticed the wrapped package on Blake's bed. "I'm guessing this is for me?"

They all nodded their heads and encouraged me to open it. As the paper slid off and the lid from the box came off, I noticed that they were all dressed it not-normal attire for a usual birthday movie night. I looked down at the clothing in the box. It was a pair of black skinny jeans, stiletto heels with silver studs, a purple short T-shirt, and a black vest. "Guys? What's this for?" I questioned, looking back up at them.

"Just go try it on." Maxie said and pushed me into the bathroom. I sighed. _Well, at least it's purple, _I thought. I put on the outfit and walked out.

Felicity grinned, "Meg, I swear, that's so much more flattering than your pajamas."

"Nice to know." I commented sarcastically. Then I heard giggles behind me. I turned around and the last thing I saw was Iris, Blake, Maxie, and Shelly pulling a pillowcase over my head and putting me into the car.


	3. Chapter 2: Darren

I do not own anything of except the plot. Everything else belongs to Disney.

Chapter 2

We were headed down Pacific Highway. I still had the pillow case over my head and was buckled in between Felicity and Maxie. Blake was driving, Shelly was in the passenger seat, and Iris in the very back. They still had kept their voices down and the party location secret, but I could still make out words like "Dancing," "Guys," and "Food." I had a few pretty close guesses, but I didn't speak. I guess they realized I could hear them when Blake turned up the radio louder and everyone stopped talking.

"Guys," I noted, "I'm going to find out sooner or later, might as well tell me."

Iris sighed behind me, "You're right. We're going to…"

"IRIS! NO!" Maxie turned around, "You know once she finds out she'll refuse to go. That's why we're waiting until we're actually there before she find out, so there'll be no hope in letting her go home."

I rolled my eyes under the pillow case, "Wow. You guys really went all out with this. But— wait, we're not going to Miranda's are we?" I asked, remembering the local bar downtown where people under the age of 21, aka us, were also allowed in. It got quiet then. "Oh no, we ARE going to Miranda's! Seriously? You know how I am with alcohol. My parents….."

"Meg, calm down. We can't drink, even if we are allowed in." Shelly tried to comfort me, "Besides, your horoscope said that today will be the start of a great adventure for you, but the beginning of it will be rough. Who knows what that adventure could be? Maybe some famous CEO for a singing company will be there," she commented, remembering my long dream of being a world-known singer one day, "Or, even better, you'll meet some cute guy."

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" I bellowed. Ever since I caught my last boyfriend, Darren, kissing another girl behind the bleachers at his hockey game, I swore off dating or having a boyfriend. I never flirted with any guys and if any decided to try and "get some", as they call it, well, let's just say they'd be missing a limb, theoretically, of course. Well, maybe.

Darren had been the first person I ever truly loved. He knew all my secrets, all my dreams, embarrassing moments, friends, thoughts, crushes, and everything else about me. He respected me and my space. He was the head of the hockey team at our school. And the best part, he was amazingly good looking. With a tan that never seemed to go away, straight white teeth, bright blue eyes, and dirty blonde curly hair, he was basically my prince charming. But then after winning his championship hockey game, I guess my fairy tale ended and no body lived happily ever after.

"We're here!" Maxie and Felicity excitedly said as the car pulled into a parking spot, pulling me out of my memory.


	4. Chapter 3: Miranda's

Belongs to Disney. Even though I wish it was mine.

I don't know how clubs and bars actually are, considering I'm 14. So if I get this whole chapter wrong, someone please tell me. I just did it in the way I thought these places were like.

Chapter 3 (Whoa, never thought I'd actually get this far.)

I pulled the pillow case up over my head as we were pulling into Miranda's. I had seen it during the day n the drive to school, but not much in the dark. The neon green sign on the roof blinked Miranda's in a semi-annoying pattern. In the windows was the usual bar lights: flamingo lamps in bright colors, advertisements offering which alcohol to buy there, and a sign talking about how "unique and intriguing" Miranda's was with it being the only bar in the United States who allowed 18 year olds come in.

I hesitated for the door handle. I had been against alcohol in any way, shape, or form since my parents died and I didn't want anything to happen tonight. But then again, my friends had gone through a bunch planning this out and a party did sound fun. I sighed, opened the door, grabbed Blake's and Felicity's hands and walked in, all six of us in a line. We were greeted at the door by a man who looked somewhere in his twenties, but this was Los Angeles, so he was most likely 40 and got plastic surgery to prove it. He asked to see our driver's licenses to make sure we were 18 and not under-age like the 16 and 17 year old wannabes waiting outside the door.

It made me laugh. Here I was, on my 18th birthday, walking into the coolest bar in the area, and being jealous of the 16 year olds who couldn't get in. But then I remembered Shelly's advice and the horoscope she said was mine for the day. A great adventure, huh? Well, I guess I'm going to have to grin and bear it.

As the six of us walked in the song was changing into a more appropriate style song for a place like this. A remixed version of Paula Abdul's "Dance Like there's No Tomorrow" came on and the dance floor erupted into cheers and moves. Our party was led to a booth right next to the dance floor. While Iris, Blake, Felicity, and Maxie "guy watched", Shelly and I looked at the menu.

Shelly glanced up at me, "You know, Meg. Don't make it seem like you're the only one of us who isn't interested in having a boyfriend right now."

"That's because your guy is at military school." I glared at her, "You never officially broke up. Just put your relationship on hold while he's there." She shrugged. I sighed. Everyone had boyfriends. Felicity had Joe, Iris had Layton, Blake had Logan, and Maxie had Ed. All four of those guys were in a band together. Shelly's Shang was over in San Diego training. And me, well, I was the loner. But that was way more than okay for me. Until I saw him.


	5. Chapter 4: Denial

I don't own anything except the plotline, Meg's friends, and maybe a few other people I think of during this chapter?? Idk. Anywho, please enjoy 

Chapter 4

I shook that last thought out of my head. But I couldn't help and wonder what I meant by that. _I was a loner, until I saw him. _What?! I had sworn off boys and that included thoughts such as that. But I looked behind my shoulder again to be sure he wasn't a fake. Yep, he was real alright. I quickly analyzed him. He had red brown hair, blue eyes, muscular, and tall. He was good looking if I admitted anything. He was most likely a football jock.

"Oh, spot anybody, Meg?" Maxie came up to me. I ignored her, hoping that maybe she'd catch on and go away. But with Maxie being like my other friends, she didn't. She followed my gaze to the unknown football jock. Her mouth gaped open, "Oh. My. God. Meg! He's cute! Go flirt with him."

I smacked her arm, "Maxie. Let me clear this up for you. Ever since I caught Darren being the man whore that I knew he always was, I will never date, flirt, or try to catch any guy's attention." But then I realized I said that a little loud and people were staring. "Starting now," I quickly added. She rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you say. But Meg darling, please come dance. It's your party and you shouldn't let a boy, no matter how cute he may be, ruin it for you." I let her drag me out towards the middle of the dance floor just as "Circus" was starting up. I heard Iris squeal behind me. Britney is her idol. I guess somehow word got out that it was my birthday because the next thing I knew I was being pushed into a chair and being picked up by big burly guys, kind of like the door man who let us in, and being brought around in the crowd. I laughed. I was actually having fun, in a bar. _Wow, _I thought, _I never thought this would happen._

I was given a crazy type of party hat with streamers, balloons, and glitter all over it. I smiled at my friends, "Thank you so much you guys!" I screamed from the other side of the room. At that moment, the DJ put on Beyonce's hit "Single Ladies" and called for all the girls to the dance floor, single or not. I was put down as I joined Maxie, Blake, Shelly, Felicity, and Iris on the floor. We all started dancing. Somehow my brown hair had come out of its high ponytail and was now in a loose clump at the back of my head. And for once, I didn't care. I was with my friends on my birthday having the best time and nothing could ruin it. That was until Unknown-Football-Jock came over.

"Hey." He nervously said to me. I looked around. He was the only guy on the dance floor at the moment.

I raised an eyebrow, "What do you think you're doing? You're the only guy out here."

"I believe I'm asking you to dance with me…." He drowned off, looking for a name.

"Meg."

He smiled, "Meg. Would you be ever so kind to dance with me on your birthday?" He acted cool. _Not in a million years. _I thought. And with that, I walked away.


	6. Chapter 5 and 6: Forgetting

I don't own it. *sigh* I'm getting uber-tired of writing this all the time. But oh well. 

****I figured I'd do two chapters in this one because 1. I don't feel like uploading them both separately because that's just how lazy I really am, 2. On the drop down list where it says the chapters is all screwed up because of my prologue, so now I'm fixing it. Enjoy****

Chapter 5

I turned on my heel and walked the other direction, towards the table. _How dare he speak to me like that!_ I was furious. I knew that my walking away would bring my friends over to see what happened, even though they were right there. I sat down and ordered water. I didn't look to see if Unknown-Football-Jock had followed me, but I could tell he was still standing in the exact same spot I'd left him. Eventually, Felicity had come over and sat down with me.

"Meg, what's the matter? I know you're upset about that guy hitting on you just now." She said, "But seriously, other boys have hit on you after the Darren incident and you didn't do anything to them. Why now? Why this random guy here and not someone you know from school?"

I sighed, "Because it's so embarrassing. I saw him earlier and I thought he was cute. And now that he actually came up, I felt like I totally betrayed my vow of never falling again. So I did the first thing that came to mind. I walked away."

"That's still no reason to sit here all alone."

I looked at her, "Go have fun. Trust me; I'm having fun, too, in my own way. Go dance." She smiled, gave me a hug, and joined the rest on the dance floor. I watched her go. I tried ignoring the fact that the unknown boy was still standing there, staring at me. It was so weird. Most people would have moved on the next person dancing alone, but this kid just wouldn't move. I decided to meet his gaze, to see if he was still looking at me. He was. _What do you want from me?_ I practically screamed at him, but instead kept it inside my head. Looking at him was a mistake because when he noticed I had turned my attention towards him, he started walking towards where I was sitting.

Chapter 6

I tried sliding down behind the menu I was still holding in my hands. _Maybe if I'm like those people in the movies, he'll go away. _But like the rest of my luck that evening, it didn't work.

"Um, hi." I heard him say quietly. I looked up at him. Man, were those blue eyes pretty. _Stop it, Meg! Stop it I say! _But I had to be polite, so I slid back up.

"Hey. Sorry about walking out on you. I just kind of hate it when people do that to me." I apologized.

He stared at me, "Well it's not like I could've known. I mean, you seemed like you liked people coming up and talking to you a few minutes ago, so I figured I'd give it a shot."

I blushed, "Well I don't mind people coming up to me and talking normally. But when someone flirts, then I freak out. Sorry."

He smiled, "Well then let's start over and talk normally. Hi. I'm Hercules, and you are?" Hercules? That was a weird name. I've never heard it before. Didn't really sound like the kind of name one would think of when announcing a football game. _And here comes Number 33, Hercules, and racing down the field towards the end zone._ Yeah, definitely not the kind of name you'd hear at a football game.

"I'm Megara. My friends call me Meg." I finally answered his question, even though he already knew my name. He smiled again. Then I realized that this conversation was a little awkward with him standing and me sitting. "Do you want to sit down?" He did. For a few seconds it was kind of awkward. That was until Blake and Maxie started making sounds and gestures about me and Hercules sitting and talking together. I blushed a million shades of red. "Sorry. They're weird like that. Just ignore them and if we're lucky, they'll stop."

Hercules laughed, "Its fine really. I find your friends very funny. Awkward, but funny."

I smiled. Hercules was cool, you know, when he wasn't acting like a man whore or anything. _Maybe he could be one of the few guy friends I have._ I shook that thought out of my head. _No Meg. No. He's just a cool guy at a club for tonight. Tomorrow you'll forget all about him. _But then I questioned myself if I really did want to forget him.


	7. Chapter 7: Phone Numbers

I don't own anything except the usual.

Chapter 7 (I wanted to do a little of Hercules' POV to kind of get the point across of why he likes her so much. Yeah, I know it's cheesy. But it's my story. I can do whatever I want. So HA.)

Hercules' POV

I had never seen anyone like her. She was tall, slender, had long dark brown hair, and purple eyes. It was crazy how I felt as soon as I saw her. She was fun, but also down-to-earth and had a good head on her shoulders. She refused to drink anything alcoholic, unlike most of the 18 year olds that came here on their birthday. I knew I had to get to know her. I needed to know who Meg was.

Meg's POV

Whoa, let's run that last thought through here again. _I questioned myself if I really did want to forget him._ What was I thinking? Hercules was a random person I had met at a club that I didn't even want to go to. And now I don't want to forget him even though all I know is his first name? I had lost it. Either that or clubs and bars just made me go berserk.

I was pondering this all with him staring at me, still sitting at my table. I think he asked a question, but what? I didn't want to be rude to the poor fellow and make it seem like I was ignoring him. Before I could say anything that might make it even more awkward between me and Hercules my friends came to my rescue and sat down one the other side of me. The booth got really crowded and I began to think that my friends had only done this to push me closer into Hercules. Maybe they didn't come to my rescue, but they changed the subject of whatever it was Hercules asked me about.

"So, Meg, who's your _friend_?" Maxie asked. The added emphasis on the word _friend_ didn't help, but I ignored it.

"This is Hercules." I said back, with no sense of emotion that might make any one of them say anything, anything awkward that was. Shelly sensed me being uncomfortable.

She picked up a menu, "Excuse me, waitress? I think we'll all get the sushi platter." The waitress took the order and went back. At that moment Hercules stood up.

"Actually I have to go." He looked a little sad leaving.

I stopped him, and without really thinking about it, I said, "Wait, are you sure?" I knew my friends would assume I meant something, but I had just met Hercules. And he seemed like a pretty cool guy and I didn't want to forget him. Maybe he wasn't like the other guys I had met in my life. I wanted to know him.

He smiled, "Yeah, I have to go. It was nice talking to you, Meg. Happy Birthday." And with that, he got up and left. I watched him walk out before I turned to my friends. It really was a shame to let someone like him go.

As I turned toward Maxie, Blake, Iris, Felicity, and Shelly, I noticed Hercules had left a piece of paper on his seat. I picked it up. _Nice, _I thought, _Clever way to give a girl your number._


	8. Chapter 8: Forbidden

Yeah, I don't own this. Even though I wish that I did, I don't.

I decided to do more POVs in the story to tell more of it. So ignore the summary saying it's told from Meg.

Chapter 8 (Sorry it's so long! I just didn't see a good place to stop writing for a while.)

We all left shortly after Hercules did. The ride home was quiet for a while until Felicity got the bright idea to ask me about Hercules.

"So, Meg," Felicity started, "That Hercules fellow was pretty into you." I slapped her arm. I knew this was coming, but I still needed to defend myself.

"Oh, really? I didn't seem to notice." I said, trying not to smile through my lie.

Maxie turned to face me from her seat in the passenger side, "You better be joking about that. Because if you aren't, then you really need to notice that there are hordes of guys who flirt with you. And don't say that you didn't even think he was cute because who was the one who noticed him earlier? You were."

"Max, you need to calm down. I was kidding. And of course I notice the people flirting with me. Why else do you think half the football team at school has broken limbs?" She sighed, muttered something, and turned back to face the front of the car.

I sighed too, "But other than that, that party was awesome. Thank you so much you guys for planning it!" I hugged as many people as I could in the car with one behind me and two up front, one of the two driving. But still, it was a hug.

When we got back to their house, I figured Uncle Hades was probably still awake, waiting for me to come home, with some evil plan in mind most likely. And considering how crazy he went when I came home from shopping, he would probably be put in a straight jacket if he saw what I was wearing. I ran upstairs into Blake's bathroom and put my pajama's back on.

"Thanks so much for the cool outfit, Iris," I said, knowing she would be the one to go shopping for an ensemble as well, sultry, as that. "But I'm going to leave it here because of my uncle. Bye!" And with that I left my friends and got into my light blue bug and drove home.

Blake's POV

After Meg left, I decided to put her birthday present in a box and keep it in my closet just in case she'd want it in a few days. As I picked up the black skinny jeans from the floor, a piece of paper fell to my feet. I picked it up. It read in big capital letters _HERCULES _and then a phone number. I grinned. Just because Meg doesn't like Hercules, doesn't mean Hercules has to forget Meg.

I ran downstairs and yelled, "You guys! Come here now!" Felicity moaned from upstairs.

"But I just started _Camp Rock_ and the Jonas Brothers are on the screen as we speak!" I rolled my eyes and yelled back.

"Well its either you pause the Jonas Brothers and come down here or you keep watching the Jonas Brothers and don't help me call Hercules for Meg's sake!" After this statement, all four of them, Felicity, Maxie, Iris, and Shelly, ran downstairs with eager faces. I called the number on the paper, left a detailed message including Meg's name and her number, just like the answering machine told me to.

Meg's POV

As my alarm clock rang for me to wake up on another boring Monday morning, I groaned. _Why do Monday's even have to exist?_ I opened my eyes. Sunlight streamed in from the bright California sun, welcoming a new sunny day in Los Angeles. I could hear Anthony and Alexander watching _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles _downstairs and Uncles Hades singing in the shower. EW. I shuddered at the thought. Okay, clearing my mind now. I put my iPod in its dock and waited for the music to play before I got up off my bed and got ready for the day. I brushed my hair and put it in its usual ponytail. I applied the usual black mascara, black eyeliner, and purple eye shadow. It kind of sounded like I put on emo makeup, but for someone as pale as me, the darker I am is better for me.

I opened my closet door. I loved my closet. Since I was the only girl in the house and was put here by law, Uncle Hades made sure I had everything for me. I had a walk-in closet with mirrors, lights you could put on different settings, a wall just for shoes, and everything else was clothes. I didn't really feel like dressing up today, so I picked out a simple outfit: a gray striped t-shirt with a Mickey Mouse graphic in black and red, red jeans, and black sandals. I put on the necklace my mother had given me on my fifteenth birthday, the last one she had spent with me. It was a simple silver locket with purple flowers on it and on the inside was a photo with me, Mom, and Dad, all smiling. On the other side it was the date my parents had gotten married on, also the day of my birthday. I smiled and whispered, "Happy Anniversary you two. I miss you." After that I went downstairs to pack up my backpack and get something to eat.

When I walked into the kitchen, Anthony and Alexander bombarded me with their marshmallow guns. "Real mature, you two. Alex, I'm sure Maxie wouldn't really want to hang out with someone who hits her best friend with marshmallows. It's the same thing with Iris, Anthony." I always used the fact that they liked Maxie and Iris to my advantage. They instantly stopped and went back to their TV show. I made myself a bowl of Cheerio's and sat at the kitchen counter. Uncle Hades came down.

"Hey, there's the birthday girl! How was the party last night?" Hades asked as he poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down next to me. I sighed. Maybe I could confess to him about Hercules. Well, not everything. Just a little bit.

"It was fun. We went to Miranda's and had a blast. Except there was this guy who hit on me and asked to dance and when I said no, he kind of didn't leave me alone." I looked at my uncle. He was taking a long drink of coffee.

"Did he give you his name?" He asked, opening up the newspaper to the sports section.

I shook my head, "Yeah, but that's it. Hercules was his name." My uncle looked like he choked on his coffee for a second. Then he turned toward me.

"Meg, never talk to Hercules again. I forbid you." He angrily said, then turned back towards his paper and coffee as if nothing had happened. I was confused. I finished my cereal, put the bowl and spoon in the sink, and headed towards school.

I had forgotten all about the thing with my uncle this morning until I pulled into the school parking lot and saw Hercules standing there.


	9. Chapter 9: New Kid in School

I don't own anything. Everything belongs to Disney.

Chapter 9 (I decided to make these chapters longer. So enjoy the long chapters. )

I stayed in my car and gaped at Hercules for a good 10 minutes. He didn't seem to notice me, even though I could tell he was looking for me or someone he knew. He didn't go to this school. I knew he didn't. Our school wasn't big enough for there to be people I didn't know. Questions raced through my mind, a million a minute. _How was he here? Why was he here? Was he a new person in town and him being at this school was just a crazy trick of fate? _I couldn't answer any of these questions and the only person who could was the guy they were about. I jumped when a knock came to the driver's window. I saw that it had been Iris who knocked and had Felicity, Shelly, Maxie, and Blake all behind her, smiling. I rolled down my window.

"Girls, guess who's standing over there?"

They all answered without even looking at him, "Hercules." They spoke in unison. I became even more confused than I already was. They seemed to know he was here. Almost as if….

"You told him to come here!" I figured it out.

Shelly laughed, "Aw, come on Meg. Would we really do something as amazing as that? It's not like we found his number in the pocket of the jeans we gave you." I glared. _Crap, _I silently thought, _why didn't I just take the outfit home? Oh yeah. Because I'm an idiot._ I looked back at Hercules. He looked like he had noticed my friends standing here, talking to someone in the car. He probably figured it was me who they were talking to, which it was. Hercules started walking over.

Blake pulled me out of the car and sarcastically said, "Oh my gosh, Meg! Look who it is. Hercules!" And shoved me toward him. I turned around and glared at them all and shook my head. Of course they would do something as devious as this. I looked back at Hercules and decided to ask the questions that had been going through my head earlier.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him, without any sense of greeting. He looked at me, then to Blake, then me again.

"Your friends told me to come. I just moved here and I was looking for schools online last night. That was when your friends called me, saying it was you." I gasped and turned toward them. I shook my head.

"You guys are unbelievable." I accused them.

Maxie smiled, "But that's why you love us!" I turned back toward Hercules.

"So you go to this school now?" He nodded. "And you don't know anybody else except for me, Iris, Blake, Felicity, Shelly, and Maxie?" He nodded once again. I sighed, went back to my car, picked up my backpack, and headed towards class. This was going to be a long day.

Hercules POV (Yeah, I know he's going to sound obsessed in this part. But I didn't want to re-write half of the chapter again. So I switched it up.)

I had stood there all morning, waiting for Meg or one of her crazy friends to show up. I still didn't fully understand why I had come to her school. Well there was the obvious answer. I needed to find someplace for me to attend while my older sister and brother went to UCLA and my father didn't want us all to separate. That's why I had gone into Miranda's, to meet new people and to learn more about the schools here. And then when Meg's friend, Blake, had called, I had found my school. So I was now the new kid at the Oceanview High School in Los Angeles. The new kid with a huge crush on a girl I met even more I had gone to the school.

I was pulled out of these thoughts when I noticed Blake, Felicity, Maxie, Shelly, and Iris walking towards a small light blue bug and started talking to someone inside. It was hard to see who it was through the tinted windshield, but considering it was five out of the six of them, I was sure Meg was the driver. All her friends had little personalities to them. Felicity: the Dancer; Iris: the Blonde; Maxie: the Arab; Shelly: the Short One; and Blake: the Hyper one. I laughed at myself for giving people nicknames already in the first 20 minutes of my first day. My ears perked up when I heard the five say my name. Well, time to make my appearance I guess.

As I walked over, the Hyper one pulled Meg out of the car and acted surprised at seeing me. "Oh my gosh, Meg!" she said, "Look who it is. Hercules!" I smiled as Meg was pushed towards me.

"What are you doing here?" Meg asked, her purple eyes full of questions. _Geez, _I thought, _No "Hello" or anything._ I looked at Meg, then Blake, then back to Meg. I might as well tell her the truth.

"Your friends told me to come. I just moved here and I was looking for schools online last night. That was when your friends called me, saying it was you." She turned towards her friends. Maxie said something about Meg loving them, but I was too preoccupied in noticing the unique texture of Meg's hair: chocolate ringlets at the end of her ponytail, but perfectly straight everywhere else except for her bangs, which had a little curl to them. Meg turned back to me.

"So you go to this school now?" I nodded my head. "And you don't know anybody else except for me, Iris, Blake, Felicity, Shelly, and Maxie?" I nodded again. She sighed and walked back to her car. I was afraid she'd leave. I was about to stop her when she turned back towards me with her backpack in tow. Meg walked past me and into a classroom. I looked at her friends. Felicity smiled.

"Let's go get your schedule." She said, pulling me towards the administration building.

"Why are you so happy about that?" I asked her. She looked at me.

"Because, young Hercules, we can always switch around your classes to fit another student's schedule. That's what they do to new kids. And we've used that excuse before to get all of us in the same classes together. So, since you don't know anybody but us, you're going to need a friend, right?" I nodded, confused. "Then you're going to want to be with people you know on your first day of school, right?" I nodded, still confused. Felicity sighed and Shelly walked on my other side and started talking.

"Do you understand what we're saying?" I shook my head. Shelly and Felicity exchanged a glance.

Blake piped in, "We're going to switch your schedule to match our schedules which match Meg's schedule!"

I grinned, "I get it now!" Iris rolled her eyes and muttered something about "males being unintelligent at things that mattered, like relationships". I was about to mention that I had heard her but then we walked into the administration building. Air conditioning hit me. I hadn't realized how warm it had been outside until I actually walked inside. Felicity walked me up to the front desk and spoke in a friendly voice.

"Hello, Mrs. Garber. This is Hercules. He's new. We're here to pick up his schedule." Mrs. Garber smiled.

"And do you want to change his schedule so he can be with people he knows?"Felicity nodded, "Yes. Change all of his classes to match mine, please." Once we had my schedule all planned out, we walked into the science building. The same building Meg had gone into. I introduced myself to the teacher, Mr. Moller. Then I followed Maxie to the rows at the back of the class. I guess the teacher had let everyone choose where they sat. The class was ordered into the cliques. The cheerleaders, jocks, nerds, and then other people I didn't feel like classifying at the moment. Meg and her friends took up the last three rows. The Hyper one and the Dancer sat together, with an extra chair pulled up to the table. Behind them were the Blonde and the Short One and behind them were the Arab and Meg. Maxie smiled.

"I guess Hercules doesn't have a seat to sit at," she said and then fake gasped, "Oh. Wait, I know what to do. I'll move up to Blake and Felicity's table and you and Meg can sit together. Bye guys!" And with that, she scooped up her stuff and moved to the table two in front of us, leaving me and my dream girl alone.


	10. Chapter 10: Project

Si no soy el propietario de este. (Spanish for "I don't own this" I think)

Chapter 10

Meg's POV

I wasn't surprised to know that they'd change his schedule to match mine. They'd already told him to be in our school. But I was surprised when Maxie got up and moved to Felicity and Blake's table. Now it was just me and him. Me and Hercules. He sat down, both his pearl white teeth and bright blue eyes smiling. _Wow, _I couldn't help thinking, _his eyes are so pretty. _But I shook my head. I couldn't think about pretty eyes. I heard some kids muffle their laughter around me. I turned my attention to Mr. Moller's lecture to understand what the laughing was about.

Once I knew what the lecture was, the reason for the laughing was obvious. Sexual reproduction. Oh boy, sounds fun. Turns out what I just missed was the assigning of a genetic parent project, where the two people sitting at a table would be the parents of a kid they "made" from their own genetic traits. Even more fun. So now I guess me and Hercules will be the parents of our own kid.

Shelly turned around. "Well Meg, don't you think this will be fun?" she asked, looking at me, then Hercules, then me again. Then, in some crevice of my mind, I decided that playing along with Shelly would be just as fun.

I nodded. "Actually it does sound fun. I'm so looking forward to this." I said while staring right at Hercules. He turned a million shades of red, then back to normal color after a few seconds. The bell rang right then. I collected my stuff and joined my friends at the door.

"Meg! Wait!" Hercules called. I turned around. He had followed us halfway across the campus yelling my name. I looked at the other students around us. People were staring. I sighed. I hated when people stared.

"What?"

"Can I talk to you?"

I looked at my friends. "Can I?" They all nodded and gave sneaky little smiles. I knew what they were thinking, but I pushed that aside. He probably just wanted to talk about the project or where his locker was or something. I turned around and towards him. He seemed so happy that I did. I couldn't help but smile back. Hercules just seemed like the kind of person you had to smile when around him. And if you didn't you would look and feel like a freak. I approached him.

"Yes?" I asked. He looked like he forgot what he was going to say. Either that or he quickly changed what he was about to say.

"Oh um, yeah, well since we're going to be partners for this project, I was wondering if you wanted to get to know each other a little bit?" He seemed so uncomfortable asking this, like he was expecting me to deny.

I nodded my head. "Yeah. Actually that sounds really cool. I guess we could. When?" He looked around.

"Well since it's a passing period, maybe we could start now." I laughed.

"Sure. Where do you want to start?" I asked. I was surprised at how much I wanted to know about him.


	11. Chapter 11: Memories

I don't own this.

Chapter 11

Meg's POV

The bell for lunch had rung. I didn't even notice how much time had gone by and I still felt like I knew nothing about Hercules. We had talked all morning, mainly about how Hercules felt to be the new kid in school. We hadn't talked about me or my past and I was grateful for that. I was so much more interested in Hercules, which was weird for me. Right now he was talking about why he moved here.

"….so my older brother and sister, they're twins, are attending UCLA right now, which is the main reason why I'm here. My mom and dad didn't want our family to separate, with me being a senior in high school and the twins being freshman in college and my younger sister, Chelsea, in sixth grade. So it's a big change for us all, but we're getting used to it." He finished his monologue. We were sitting at the end of our lunch table, including Blake, Felicity, Shelly, Maxie, Iris, and their boyfriends, well except for Shang. The guys were explaining a song they had recently written and they were trying to write the bass part for it. The girls were acting fully interested in the guys' conversation, but out of the corners of their eyes they were watching me. They knew how I could explode with emotions at any moment when I spoke about my past, so they were prepared.

Hercules looked at me, "So that's why I'm here. I'm the new kid in Los Angeles." He stopped to take a bite of his hamburger. I hadn't even eaten anything yet. I took a bite of the apple on my tray before he started back up again.

When he finished, he said, "Okay. I told you enough about me. Now it's your turn." When he said this, my friends and their boyfriends stopped talking to make sure I was fine. _No privacy at all, _I thought, _even the boys were listening._

I shifted in my chair. I didn't know where to start. That's what I hated when I spoke about myself; I never knew where to start. "Why don't you ask me something and I'll start?" I asked.

He thought quietly. "Okay, tell me about your family." This always came up in the beginning of the conversation. I took a breath, let it out, and started about my past.

Hercules' POV

I quickly gave a brief summary of my family and why I had moved here. What I really wanted to know was Meg. She asked me for a place to start talking about. I thought. There were tons of things I wanted to know. I figured talking about her family was the easiest place to start because that's where I had left off. When I asked about her family, the rest of the table got quiet. I looked at Meg. She had cast her eyes down, looking at her lap. Her eyebrows knit together a little bit and a slight blush had come over her cheeks. There was something about her family that she was either embarrassed about or she didn't want to talk about it.

I spoke up, "You don't have to say it if you don't want to." She looked up and gave a confused look.

She shook her head, to my relief. "No. That wouldn't be fair. You told me so much. Like you said, it's my turn now." She took a big breath. "Well for starters, my parents died three years ago. They were hit by a drunk driver and since I didn't have any siblings to care for me I was sent to the 'next best thing'." She put air quotes around "next best thing". I gave her a confused look. She sighed again and grabbed onto the locket around her neck. "My Uncle Hades. He's that one crazy uncle that everyone has in their family and I've been living with him and his younger twin boys, Anthony and Alexander. He took me from my family's farm in the country to here. And since he makes my life miserable at its best, I live with Blake, Lic, Max, Shelly, and Iris most of the time, just down the street." I looked up at me. It looked like she had a few tears in her eyes.

Okay, now I really felt horrible. No wonder she didn't want to talk about it. _She must really hate me now, _I thought. But then she gave me a weak smile and the tears were gone.

"Anything else you would like to--?" she stopped mid-sentence as her eyes followed a person walking behind me. She quickly blushed again and looked down, but before she did I noticed new tears were in her eyes. I looked behind me. A tan guy with curly blond hair ad walked past and sat down with the hockey team. I looked at Meg. Shelly, who was sitting right next to her, was looking at her. I guess she had noticed the mystery hockey player too. I noticed everyone else at the table had noticed and some of the guys had really angry looks on their faces, like a brother would have when his sister was upset.

I leaned over to Maxie and whispered, "What's gotten into Meg?" At that moment, Meg quickly got up and dumped her tray and went into the bathroom.

I looked around at the table, "Is anybody going to tell me what happened or do I have to go ask her myself?" Maxie looked at me and sighed.

"He has a right to know. He obviously likes Meg enough to come to her school. And follow her around."

I was upset at this point. If I had a right to know, TELL ME ALREADY! "Can someone please just let me know what that guy has to do with Meg?" Felicity slapped her hand over my mouth.

"God, we're going to have a real problem if you can't keep your voice down."

"Just tell me."

Blake rolled her eyes and pointed to the hockey guy. "That's Darren. He and Meg went out for the longest time anyone could possibly imagine. He was the first guy Meg ever felt like she truly loved. She always called him her 'Prince Charming'. But that all ended when Meg found him and Lydia Alberts kissing behind the bleachers after winning his championship hockey game. Meg's heart was broken and it still isn't fully fixed, which was why she was giving you such a hard time at Miranda's." At that point a tall, blonde girl, Lydia most likely, had come up and sat with Darren, giving him a small peck on the cheek.

I was furious. _How could anyone treat Meg, a girl so beautiful and charming, like a piece of dirt?_ I thought. I wanted to go up to Darren and make that kid sorry for what he did.

Iris shook my shoulder, "Herc? Are you okay? You're face is all red. And you look like you want to kill Darren, not that any of us would have a problem with it.

The guys laughed, while the girls all glared at Darren one last time. I noticed that everyone, except for Meg, had their own couple at this table. Layton was with Iris, Joe was with Felicity, Ed was with Maxie, Blake had Logan, and Shelly had Shang, who apparently was off at military school in San Diego. Then Joe looked at me and spoke up.

"Dude, seriously. You love her, we can all tell. The teachers can tell. You want to go talk with her. Go. Now." He ordered. I smiled. I was glad that Meg's friends didn't date dirtbags like that Darren guy. I got up and left the table, searching the campus for Meg.

Meg's POV

*Flashback*

I had just come home from cleaning out the finishing touches of my old house in the country and I had just enough time to catch the last 5 minutes of Darren's championship hockey game. I was ecstatic. I hadn't seen him for a week and he didn't know I would be there. I was going to surprise him. I arrived at the school in time to see Darren shoot the winning score. I cheered. My friends all hugged me and congratulated me on the most amazing boy ever and that he was all mine.

The crowds were wild and everyone was standing up in the bleachers. I looked everywhere for Darren. Finally I went to one of Darren's teammates to ask if he knew where Darren was. He told me to look behind the away team bleachers. That's odd, I thought. He's never there. I shrugged and went to go find my prince.

As I got closer to the back of the bleachers, I heard a female giggle and a low chuckle from what sounded fairly close to Darren's laugh. I looked behind the bleachers. That was when my heart tore into a thousand pieces.

There he was kissing Lydia Alberts. Lydia was a cheerleader, with long legs and shiny blond hair.

"Darren?" I barely let out as a whisper, my voice cracking on the syllables. They stopped eating each other's faces off to look at me. Darren's face went into total shock.

"Meg! Hey, how was packing up? I missed you." He said.

I glared at him. "I'm sure you did." I said looking right at the cheerleader. "Darren, what happened? Don't you love me?"

That was when Lydia spoke up, "He did, hotshot. But now he's mine. You can go now." I forced the hot stinging tears that were building up in my eyes to stay there for a while until I reached my car. I had loved Darren. He had loved me. That statement Lydia had made echoed in my head. _He did, hotshot. Now he's mine._ I sobbed until my chest hurt, my voice gone, and my eyes burned. I couldn't drive home like this. I called Shelly to come pick me up and drive me to their house.

*End Flashback*

I looked up from my knees when I heard footsteps following me to the place where I was sitting. No surprise, it was Hercules. I was glad he had come. He seemed like the only decent male I had met in a long time and seeing his forever lasting smile made me a little happier. I stood up.

"Hey." He said awkwardly. I smiled.

"Hey." I said just as awkward.

"Your friends told me what that dirtbag did to you." He confessed. "And I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

That did it. This kid was just too nice. I hugged him. He seemed surprised at my embrace, but then he seemed to get over it and he hugged me back.

"You know, Hercules? You're not so bad once you get past the freaking muscles you have." I joked. He laughed.

"Do you want to go back?" He asked. I thought it over.

I shook my head. "No, let's stay here. You still have your questions to ask about me." I smiled.

He smiled back. "Okay."


	12. Chapter 12: Unexpected Visitor

A/n: I'm going to be gone for a few days because its memorial day weekend. And the place I'm going doesn't have electricity or plumbing (yikes!). So enjoy this last chapter for a while.

I don't own this. I only own Meg's friends, the friends' boy friends, Anthony and Alexander, Darren, and the plotline. Everything else is Disney's.

Chapter 12 (I'm sorry it's so short. But it's also a cliffhanger!!!)

Hercules' POV

She hugged me. She actually hugged me. I was so happy. I had only come to make sure she was okay, but instead I get a hug? Wow, this school rocks. We headed back to the cafeteria, despite what Meg had said about staying there and talking. Her stomach had growled loud enough to let us know that it disagreed with us staying there. Bu that was earlier and the school day had ended, as much as I didn't want it to. Meg was the perfect girl. If only she were mine.

Meg's POV

I drove home happy that day. Hercules had become one of my best friends in a little over two hours and we knew so much about each other already. I couldn't believe it. I pulled up into the long driveway of Uncle Hades' townhouse and headed inside to find an empty house. There was a note on the kitchen counter say that Hades took the twins to a baseball game. Not that I really cared all that much. I headed upstairs to drop off my backpack and check my email.

I had only been upstairs for a short while when the doorbell rang. I waited. If it was a UPS guy or anything like the sort, they would leave after one ring. But the doorbell rang. Once. Twice. Three times. I sighed. I put down my notebook that I had been doodling in and went downstairs to open the door. And when I did, I couldn't believe who was standing right there.

"Darren?"


	13. Chapter 13: Apologies

I do not own this. I wish I did though. Only the plot and a few characters are mine. Everything else's is Disney's.

Chapter 13

"Darren?" I asked, questions running through my head as I stared at the boy I had once loved. Why was he here? What did he want?

"Meg," He said my name in a way that made me want to close the door in his face and run upstairs, but I was frozen with shock. "Meg, we need to talk."

I glared at him. "What do you mean 'we'? That ended a long time ago, you asshole." He didn't back off.

"Meg, I didn't mean for it to sound like that. I just, I, I need to talk to you and apologize appropriately. If you would just please give me a few minutes so I can explain everything, I swear it'll make me sleep so much better at night."

"Oh, you mean with Lydia?" I asked sarcastically. He looked so different from when I had seen him today at school. Earlier he was some kind of shallow person that only cared for himself and the girl he slept with. Now he looked so… so…. real. Like he truly was sorry for what he did to me. I sighed. "I'll give you one more chance."

He took a step forward like he was about to hug me, but I denied it by stepping back. "Let me just…. um…. go get my stuff."

I ran upstairs, grabbed my wallet, phone, shoes, and a jacket. Who knows where this boy would take me, so I had to be prepared. I met up with Darren again at the front door. He led me to his old black pickup truck that I secretly hated. We drove down Pacific Highway for a good 45 minutes until I decided it was time to break the silence.

"So when are you going to start explaining your man whore-ish actions?" I said, staring directly at the highway in front of me. He said he needed to explain and say sorry, so he'd better start before it got dark. The sun was already setting on the horizon and just thinking of being in a car with this creep at night scared me to death.

Darren looked at me, "Meg, I didn't know you would be back that day. I didn't know if you'd show up at my championship game. Lydia had said she wanted to talk and so I followed her to a private place. That was when she had kissed me. I tried to push her away, but she was holding onto me and wouldn't let go."

I turned my eyes away from the road in front of me, "Oh, so is that why I saw you kissing her back when I showed up?"

He sighed and pulled over to the side of the road while the sun went down. It became dark quickly before he began talking, "Well the thing is, I was picturing it was you I was kissing and since I had missed you so much, I kissed her back, half thinking it was you and half knowing it was Lydia. And that was when you came in."

I shook my head. Could he be anymore flaky? "If you honestly think I believe that, then you must have some retarded head on your shoulders." He laughed.

"Well I guess it IS a pretty lame story to believe, but I swear it's true. Please Meg, please believe me. We're going to stay here until you do believe me." I sighed. What an ass. I knew we should've taken my car. I looked out at the now black Pacific Ocean as I heard him lean into my ear and whisper, "You know I could show you what I was thinking while I kissed her." I turned my head and he put his lips on mine. They felt the same from all the other times we had kissed before but this time there was a feel to them that I knew wasn't ever there before. I pulled away.

He looked hurt, "Aw Meg. Don't be like that. I told you the truth. I said sorry and this is how you repay me?" I didn't say anything. We sat in silence for a few moments until I spoke up.

"You have no idea how much it hurt me to see you with her. You can't imagine how many nights I fell asleep crying because of you. You can't think of the endless phone calls I spent with Blake, Felicity, and all the others, them telling me that you weren't worth it. You couldn't possibly feel the heartbreak I had, how many pieces my heart broke into, and how many pieces are still detached from it."

He reached over and put his hand on top of mine, but I pulled away. "That was the past. Can we just start over?" His question sounded so pure and honest, but on that last syllable his voice faltered and I knew this whole thing was a fake.

"You're right, Darren. That was the past. And so were we. And that'll never happen again." I had said enough to make him mad.

"That's so like you, Meg. You and your bitchy attitude can't take a real apology!" he fired at me. I glared at him and my mouth gaped open.

"_I _can't take a real apology? Seriously? You know I would accept it if it were even true!" He slapped my face. I was taken aback. He had never hit me before. Something had definitely changed.

"Get out of my car. Get out and go cry to your dumb ass uncle about your dead parents and your sucky life." He opened his door and ran to the other side of the car, to my side. He opened up my door and grabbed my by my arm and threw me onto the grass beside the road. And with that he drove away.

By that time tears had come to my eyes. I didn't know exactly what I was crying about, but sometimes a girl just had to cry and let it all out. I cried for a good 30 minutes and looked up from my arms. Everything around me was black, the highway, the ocean, the mountains far in the distance, everything.

I needed a way to get home. I thought about who I could call. Hades and the twins were still at the game and my friends would kill me if they knew how I had gotten here in the first place. I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and called the first person I could think of.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Hercules? It's me, Meg. Can you do me a huge favor?"


	14. Chapter 14: The First One

Ok so you all know by now that I don't own this except for the plot and a few characters. And everything else is Disney's. I don't feel like writing that all the time, so here you go.

Chapter 14

"Hercules? It's me, Meg. Can you do me a huge favor?" I asked him hoping, no, praying, that he'd agree.

"Uh, yeah, Meg. Totally. One second." He said and I could hear him shuffle across the floor and speak to someone. "What is it?"

"I need a ride either to my house or yours. I don't care whichever one." I pulled my knees up to my chest and hugged them. Man, it was so dark out here.

"Okay, where are you?"

I sighed and smiled. "Just take the exit closest to our school onto Pacific Highway and drive south for about 25 miles. You'll see me."

"Alright, Meg. I'll be there in a few minutes." He spoke to someone in the background, "I'm just picking up a friend. She needs a ride. I'll be back in a little bit, Mom." I smiled. His mom. I wondered what she was like.

I hung up the phone with him and waited the 45 minutes it would take. After about 20 minutes, I saw headlights in the distance. I stood up from the ground and waved my arms. I was surprised. He must have really driven fast to reach me this quick. He got out of the car and I guess he had also decided to hug me.

"Meg, what happened here? You look like a wreck."

I laughed, "Gee, thanks. Every girl likes to hear that."

He let go of me. "What I meant was what happened? How'd you get here? Who drove you all this way?" I frowned and thought about what happened at lunch earlier today. If I told him, what would he do?

"It's a long story. I'll explain in the car."

"Okay." He said and led me to the passenger side of his car. It was a nice looking small silver one. Not to flashy and not to crappy. Just the way I liked cars. He got in the driver's seat and made a U-turn back towards where he had come.

I sighed. "Thanks for giving me a ride back. So I'm guessing you want to hear the story?" He nodded his head. "Well I got home from school and Darren had showed up. He wanted to 'apologize' formally so we drove down this far. Then things kind of took a wrong turn." Hercules slammed the brakes.

"What do you mean 'things took a wrong turn'? You didn't… you know?" I stared at him, confused. "You didn't……. he didn't…… okay let's see…. What we're learning in science right now?"

My mouth gaped open. "Of course not! Ew! Seriously? God, no. Never. Why would you think that?"

He shrugged. "It just kind of seemed like the kind of dirtbag Darren would be."

I shook my head. "No, nothing like that happened. Darren was just kind of expecting me to come crawling back to him."

"Why didn't you? Your friends told me you loved him and would love to have everything the same." I stared at him. He started the car again.

"Well maybe I didn't go back to him because…… maybe there's someone else right now." I said while watching his face. It fell a little and his grip tightened around the steering wheel as he quickly changed the subject.

"So where do you want me to drop you off at? Your uncle's house or your friends?" he asked.

I considered the options. "Well for some unsolved reason my uncle hates you, don't ask. I don't know why either. And if my friends knew why I was even out in the first place, they'd kill me for being with that 'dirtbag' again." I said, using Hercules' nickname for Darren. "So what if we went to your house?" He looked at me with a shocked expression.

"You really want to do that?" he asked me. I nodded.

"It's the best thing right now." He smiled a big smile, flashing his white teeth.

"Okay, but I'm going to warn you: my family's a crazy mess of people." He joked.

I shrugged, "They're better than my family most likely."

We drove in silence for a while after that until we pulled up into the driveway of his house. It was a one story brick built home that sort of resembled a cottage, if you can even consider a cottage in Los Angeles. The windows were painted dark blue with white shudders that matched the white wood wrap-around porch. Someone had planted friendly yellow tulips in the flower beds by the front door, which matched the blue windows. All together, it was an adorable looking house. But I was surprised that a guy even as sweet as Hercules lived in such a girly home. His mom and sisters must have picked it out.

Hercules turned off the car and came around to my side. He opened my door and helped me out. I could hear someone singing some Taylor Swift song upstairs, _Crazier? _Hercules chuckled.

"That's Katie. She's my younger sister and in eighth grade. She's obsessed with Taylor Swift and everyone's personal lives, so if she starts asking you random questions, don't take it personally."

I laughed. "And what about the rest of your family you said was crazy?" He laughed.

"You're about to meet them. Oh and if Liz and Josh, the twins at UCLA, start making comments about us, ignore it. They live for that kind of stuff."

I crinkled my eyebrows together, "Comments about us? What do you mean?"

He looked at me. "Comments like you being my new girlfriend, us dating, and what not."

I raised my eyebrows. "Oh. Your family is interesting. No offense."

He laughed. "None taken." We walked up the front steps to his front door and he opened it. A tidal wave of a billion different things hit me. Katie's Taylor Swift, Josh playing Xbox in the living room, Liz uploading some photos onto Facebook, and Hercules' parents cooking something in the kitchen. He led me into the kitchen where I saw his two parents. I was obvious where Hercules got his red hair (mom) and blue eyes (dad) instantly.

"Hey Mom, Dad. This is Meg." Hercules said as he gestured towards me. I gave a little awkward wave. His parents seemed to be one of the few couples in Los Angeles who really loved each other and enjoyed being married together. I instantly liked them for that. It was rare.

His dad looked up and smiled at me with the same white teeth that his son had. "So this is the Meg we've heard so much about the past couple of days. Nice to meet you. I can see why Herc likes you so much." I looked over at Hercules. He looked like he could die on the spot with embarrassment.

"Well it's nice to know that." I said. Liz had walked in and smiled when she saw me.

"Hi, I'm Liz. But considering how much Herc says he's talked to you about, you probably already know that." She winked at her younger brother. Herc's face flushed an even darker shade of red than it already was. "Aw, don't worry, baby brother. She's cute. And I can tell she likes you too." My eyes grew wide. What was she talking about? Yeah, I liked her brother, but maybe not in the way she was informing. Well maybe just a little.

Hercules spoke up. "Okay that's enough humility for me for one night. So mommy dearest, what's for dinner?"

His mother looked up from the celery stick she was cutting up. "Well since Katie has her new 'vegetarian' mood going on right now, I figured I'd make something veggie just for her for all of us." I could hear Josh groan in the other room.

"He doesn't like vegetables or anything healthy for that matter." Hercules explained to me.

His mother looked up at me, "Meg, you're welcome to stay for dinner if you want. You can have Josh's portion." She winked. I smiled. His family was funny. Certainly better than a crazy uncle with hyperactive twins.

"I'd love to." I said and with that, Hercules' family and I gathered at the dining room table and ate.

Hercules' POV

Meg seemed to like the crazy members of my family. A few times I could tell she wanted a family like mine and looked uncomfortable, but then Katie would tell a joke or ask a question and Meg would fit right back in. After dinner, Meg and I cleaned up the dishes and put away everything in the kitchen.

"Your family's very unique." She said as she put a head of lettuce back in the fridge. "Very entertaining. Thanks for bringing me here."

I looked at her. She looked like she hadn't had so much fun like she did tonight in a long time. "Hey, it was no problem. But I think your uncle is going to wonder where you are soon. Maybe I should take you home now." I was so hoping she'd say no.

Meg sighed. "You're right. And he probably needs someone to clean up the crap that he always leaves around the house. I swear I'm like his Cinderella in a weird screwed up kind of fairy tale."

I looked at her. "Well if that's true, than Prince Charming is right around the corner." She chuckled.

"Who knows? Maybe he is….."

I drove her home after that. We made little conversation, but I think Meg's mind was on the earlier conversation about the Cinderella thing, as was mine. If only she knew that I could be that Prince Charming. But her heart was still broken in a few places and knowing Meg, she'd probably rip my arm off like she did to other guys at school.

As we pulled up to the driveway of her uncle's townhouse, she sighed.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

Meg looked at me, "Oh no. I was just thinking….."

"Oh… um okay." I said. In a way, she looked like she didn't want to leave, but she knew she had to, like she was torn between to decisions that she didn't want to make. I just wanted to hold her and tell her she never had to leave. Oh man, how cheesy romance novel did that sound? I walked around to her side of the car and let her out and we walked to the front door.

"Thanks again for picking me up in the worst of times for me. And tell your parents that the meal was great. Tell Liz and Katie that I'd be happy to hang out with them sometime." I gave her a look of confusion. "They invited me to come over again. I'll see you at school tomorrow."

She smiled. Her smile was unique. It was happy but at the same time, if you really knew who Meg was, you could tell there was a bit of unhappiness in it and incompleteness to it. I returned her smile and turned to walk back to the car. I heard her run after me.

"Oh and Hercules? One more thing." She said. I turned back around towards her. She kissed my lips lightly. "That's better." I took a few steps back, amazed and shocked. Did she really just kiss me? Wow. That was unexpected. Big time. She grinned and walked inside. As I watched her go one thing crossed my mind. It was my first kiss and it wasn't her first kiss. But it was our first kiss.


	15. Chapter 15: Confrontation

I don't own this

A/n: okay so in the last chapter in the end, I meant to say "It **wasn't** my first kiss and it wasn't her first kiss. But it was our first kiss." Instead of "It** was **my first kiss…" so sorry if there were any mix ups or confusions. Oh, and I realized I had a lot of errors in the past chapters. Sorry about that.

P.S. Tell me if you like having Phil in the chapter. I wanted to put him in it somehow and putting him as the wrestling coach was the best I could think of.

Chapter 15

Meg's POV

I quickly gave Hercules a quick peck on the lips as he walked away. I honestly had no idea why I had done it. He was just so different from other guys I had been with. He listened to me complain, he didn't make judgments about my messed up family, and he respected me in ways other people didn't (cough, Darren, cough).

He looked a little dazed as he got back into his car and drove away. I stood there on the doorstep for a while until his headlights completely disappeared. I grinned and walked inside. Hades and the twins had come home and were watching TV on the sofas. Anthony and Alexander didn't bother looking back, but my uncle did.

"Where have you been, Meg?" Hades asked. I raised my eyebrow at him.

"What do you mean?"

"You've been gone all day. At least I left a note. You could have done the same."

I glared at him. "What is with you all of a sudden? You're curious as to where I go and who I'm with. One question: _Why?_" I asked.

He shrugged. "Ever since you told me about that one guy you met at Miranda's, I've been a little nervous."

"About?"

"I know Hercules and his family and I don't approve of him. So since I now know that they're around here, I'm just a little scared for you. He could show up at any moment." I was speechless. Was Uncle Hades for real? He didn't approve of Hercules and his family? I shook my head.

"Well I've been out all day with friends, school, and…. other things. I'm going to bed now. Good night." I went upstairs and closed the door. I sat on my bed and thought of all the crazy events of the day. First, Hercules shows up at my school. Second, we become classmates and tell each other about our lives. Third, Darren wants to get back together, he dumps me on the side of the road, and Hercules comes to my rescue. Fourth, I meet his family and eat dinner at his house. Fifth, I kiss him. Wow. I shook my head in shock and looked up at the stars through my window. _Mom, Dad, I know you're up there, _I thought, _If this is your way of giving me an unforgettable birthday present, congrats. You've done that._ I smiled, turned off my light, and went to sleep.

My dreams were a confused mix of everything; memories from years past, things that had happened recently, and everything in between.

I woke up to find that it was raining outside. I stayed in bed a few more minutes remembering when my mother and I would open up the garage doors and the trunk of the car and sit there watching the rain fall when a storm would come. I loved those days. I sighed and got up out of bed. I put on an old sweatshirt for my school, an old pair of jeans, and some sneakers and went downstairs. Hades and Anthony and Alexander hadn't come down yet, either that or they were planning to ambush me. I didn't care all that much either way. I took advantage of the TV while grabbing a granola bar. Nothing was really on except the news saying which schools around the county had won their games and such. I turned off the TV and waited for either Hades to come down or the twins to attack me.

I decided to get off the couch and clean up the mess in the living room around me. Toys, magazines, newspapers, even old paper plates with food still on it. At least, I _think _it was food. Okay, so I didn't clean those up, but everything else I did. When everything was cleaned and ready to go, I yelled goodbye up to the boys and drove to school.

When I pulled into Oceanview's parking lot, next to Maxie's red Mustang, I noticed that no other cars that belonged to my friends' were here. That was strange. They never carpooled unless we needed to have a meeting or discuss something.

"What happened to you yesterday?" I turned around and there was Maxie. "We called you a jillion times and no pick up. Your car was at your house but no one else was there. Where'd you go?"

I didn't reply until I stepped out of my car. "Wow. All of a sudden people are freaking out where I go. First, it was my uncle and now you?"

Maxie stared at me. "Meg, seriously, this isn't like you. You normally pick up your phone or at least send a text if you're in trouble."

I raised an eyebrow. "And what makes you think I was in trouble yesterday?"

Maxie crossed her arms. "Well only the fact that Hercules asked us if we knew where Darren was so he could beat him up. And when we asked why, he said it was because of you and something that included you, Darren, and Hercules yesterday."

My mouth opened in shock. "What? Where is he? Has he done it yet?"

"No. But if you want to know where he is, you have to explain first."

I sighed. "There's no getting around this is there?" She shook her head. "Well since I'm going to have to explain to everyone let's go get everyone else first." I grabbed her arm and led her to Felicity's locker, where everyone else was waiting for us.

"Okay, before I begin, you all have to pinky promise that you won't flip out on me until the end. Do you promise?" I held out my pinky finger and everyone locked onto it with their own pinkies. I sighed. "So where do we begin? Oh yeah. So I get home and find out I'm home alone. Then Darren shows up." And I continued with the story of that adventurous afternoon-slash-evening. They sullenly kept their promise about keeping quiet until the end and then when I was finished they erupted with questions.

"Why didn't Hercules hurt Darren already?" "What's his family like?" "What did he do after you kissed him?" "So are you two considered to be dating now?" "Can I tell the school?" I sighed.

"Okay, guys let me breathe then I'll answer. First, I don't know why Herc didn't hurt him yet. He probably already has. Second, his family is great. Third, he kind of stumbled away, shocked. Fourth and fifth, no."

They weren't pleased with my answers, but they shrugged it off. Blake grabbed my hand. "Come on. Let's go find your man."

"He's not my man!"

"Not yet, he isn't."

Hercules' POV

I was sure to get to the school early to settle things with Darren. Sure, he didn't know me. But that was about to change. I would probably leave a few marks on him, something that my wrestling coach, Phil, would be glad to know. Phil was really strict on me beating people up only if it were a match or if they deserved it. Darren definitely deserved it.

When I pulled into the parking lot, I was lucky. Darren was parked right next to me and he was listening to something on his iPod. I got out of the car and walked up to him.

He looked up at me. "Do I know you?"

I pulled the headphones out of his head. "No, but you will. We have to have a talk, Darren."

He got up from leaning against his crappy pickup truck. "And what exactly gives you the right to do that? What's this talk about anyway?"

I grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled it up so we were nose to nose. "Meg."

He glared. "Is that so?"


	16. Chapter 16: Sleepover

Not mine.

Chapter 16

Hercules' POV

He glared. "Is that so?" I held on tighter to his shirt. He would have hurt Meg again if she had allowed herself to go back to him. She would've been even more broken than she already is. And I couldn't let that happen. Not while I was trying my hardest to put her back together.

"Yes. It is so. Meg told me about your little charade you pulled yesterday. Luckily for all of us, I drove her home safely."

Darren pushed away from me. "Look, I can tell you're obsessing over her. But let's face it. If I had never done what I had done, then we wouldn't be here, Meg would be mine, and you'd be a little nobody. No one would care about you, not even Meg. So let's just forget the past, eh? Forgive and forget. That's my motto."

We heard a voice behind us. "I thought your motto was 'one night stand and forget', Darren." I turned around and saw Meg standing there. She had her arms crossed over her chest and was glaring at the both of us.

I tried to explain. "Meg, I was just trying to teach him a lesson—"

"Oh, yeah. I understand. It's totally okay with me if you tear him to shreds or not. I just wanted to see what all had happened so far and apparently this 'little nobody' here has you," she looked at Darren, "in quite a predicament. Well I can see that I can do nothing here. Go ahead, fight over me like uncivilized beasts. See if I care." She shook her head and walked away.

Darren chuckled. "That was interesting. Now, if you'll excuse me." He started to walk away. That was until I hit his head with my fist.

"You're excused." I politely said. He stood there, with his back towards me, looking like he was trying to create a diversion of some kind. "What? You're not going to stand up for yourself?" Darren turned around and punched my jaw. I could feel the heartbeat in my chin, but I didn't care. I started this fight. He was continuing it. Someone would have to finish. Someone would have to win. Someone would win this battle over Meg.

Meg's POV

I turned around and walked away from the two boys fighting over me. Well maybe saying it as 'fighting over me' wasn't exactly correct. More like fighting about me. Why were guys always like that? It was like if they didn't have their way they had to raid a whole town or kill someone. I sat down at my seat in my first period science class, wondering when the others—others meaning either my friends or Hercules—would come in. I put my head down on the table and covered it with my arms. I stayed in that position for about 10 seconds before I heard Blake whisper something completely random and completely 'Blake'.

"Elephant toenails." I turned my head to look at her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She shrugged.

"I just figured since this week has been a little crazy and confusing, I'd make it even more confusing."

I sighed. "You're so weird."

She smiled. "I never said I wasn't." She pulled me up from my awkward position. "Meg, we have 45 minutes before class starts. You can't stay here. C'mon, let's go." She grabbed my arm and led me out of the classroom.

"Go where?" I asked.

"Wherever Herc and Darren are fighting."

I stopped walking. "No. I already saw them. Something was going to happen and I didn't exactly want to be a part of it, even though the fight is about me. But still, you know what I mean. I don't feel like talking to them."

Blake turned to face me. "Meg, I swear you're bipolar. First you hate Darren and kiss Hercules. Now you hate both of them."

I shrugged. "I just think that if either of them liked me enough to fight over me, they'd be civilized enough to come to me first and not just go ahead and fight each other like savage maniacs."

Blake sighed. "Fine. Then we won't go see them. But I'm hungry. Can you at least come to the vending machine with me to get some breakfast?"

I laughed. "Oh alright." We walked to the vending machines by the library and met up with Shelly working on some homework. I didn't really know what exactly we were talking about; just funny random stuff like Joe Jonas' hair, the finals coming up, and whether green should be considered a member of the yellow or blue family. Yeah, random stuff. But, hey, that's us.

Shelly, Blake, and I stayed there for a while until the 5 minute warning bell rang. We walked to Mr. Moller's class. I sighed when I saw Hercules. I wasn't mad at him, but I wasn't happy with the way he wanted to beat up Darren. It just wasn't the kind of guy Hercules seemed to come off as. I sat down next to him. He didn't say anything until the end of the school day.

"Are you mad?" he asked.

I shook my head. "No. But I was just a little surprised at how you handled Darren."

"What do you mean?"

"You just don't seem like the kind of person who beats someone up."

He chuckled. "That's because I never told you I'm in wrestling."

I looked at him. "Really? Well then that explains it."

"Yeah. But I don't really hurt anyone unless it's a match or if they deserve it. That's what my trainer, Phil, wants me to do."

"I think Phil has a good philosophy going there."

He grinned. "Yeah, Phil's a good guy."

"But you still should have told me you were going to hurt him instead of having my friends tell me."

"I'm sorry." He sounded like he truly was sorry.

"It's fine. Don't worry."

"I'll make it up to you." He said.

I looked at him. "What do you mean?"

He grinned. "I can't tell you. It's a surprise." He ran off to his car and drove away. I stared after him, confused. He'll make it up to me? What did he mean by that?

I shrugged it off and got in my car. I didn't feel like spending more time with my suddenly-curious-Where-have-you-been? Uncle, so I went to my friends' house. Felicity went stayed home "sick". Actually she just had a dance recital and she needed to regain her energy. I went up to her room.

"Hey, Lic. How are you?" She was watching Camp Rock for the billionth time, mainly because of the Jonas Brothers.

"Good. I'm just sitting here, watching the best band ever." She smiled. I sat down next to her.

"You want to hear the gossip of the day?"

"You bet I do." Felicity paused the movie.

I sighed. "Well for starters Hercules beat Darren up."

"Are you serious?" I nodded. "Wow. You know, I like this Hercules fellow."

I sighed again. "He dons on everyone." Felicity looked at me.

"Is something wrong Meg?"

"My life is just so confusing these days. Enough said." I fell back onto her bed, face down.

"Do you want to sleep here tonight?"

"Yes, please."

Felicity laughed. "Okay, then go to your room." I groaned and went to the room that was kept for me whenever I needed girl time or just simply time away from the three males at my home. I changed into a pair of gray sweatpants and a blue cami and went downstairs to work on my homework, like everyone else. I enjoyed this. Hanging out with my best friends and just helping each other out and laughing and loving every moment of it.

When we had all done our homework, none of us wanted to cook dinner.

Iris spoke up. "Hey, what if we just call in for some pizza?" We all nodded and Iris did as she suggested. When the pizza had arrived we put in our favorite movie of all time: _Mean Girls._ We had all seen it enough to know every line, every camera angle, every outfit, and every detail of the movie, but no one cared. Hey, it was a good movie.

The movie had finished. The pizza was all eaten up. I stood up from the couch.

"Okay, well thanks for letting me stay the night. I really missed you guys. I'm going up to bed."

"Night, Meg." Everyone said. But I heard them getting up from their spots in the living room and following me up the stairs, to their own rooms. I turned off my light and fell into a dreamless sleep. Well I thought it was a dreamless sleep until Maxie shook my shoulder, forcing me to wake up. I moaned and rolled over so that my face was in my pillow and I couldn't hear Maxie waking me up or Felicity turning on my light.

I rolled back over to face the two, well more like five. Blake, Iris, and Shelly had joined Maxie and Felicity. "What do you want? Whatever it is, go ahead. Take it and let me go back to sleep."

Maxie smiled. "Okay, but what will you tell your visitor then?"

I sat up in bed. "What visitor?"

"Meg, come to your window."

I sighed. "Whatever this is, you better have a good explanation…" I was cut off when I looked out my window and saw what had caused all this commotion. I stared at whoever was standing in the driveway. I couldn't see because the person was standing in the shadows of the house.

I called out to them. "Excuse me, whoever you are, please say what you're doing here and move on. There are people trying to sleep here." Hercules walked into the light of a streetlamp and called back.

"Aw, Meg. I told you I'd make it up to you. Please come down."

My mouth gaped open. I turned around and spoke to my friends. "If anyone knows why he's here, speak now or forever hold your peace."

Blake ran up to me with a change of clothes. "No. None of us know. But you're about to find out. Get dressed and go to him, Meg. Now." I rolled my eyes and went into the bathroom to change; leaving my friends in my room and Hercules outside for whatever apparent reason he was doing here.


	17. Chapter 17: Perfect

Chapter 17

Meg's POV

I put on the navy blue sweater, gray jeans, and tennis shoes Blake had picked out for me. I walked out of the bathroom and back towards the window to see if I wasn't dreaming. Herc was still there, waiting for me to come outside. I grabbed my phone and wallet and headed downstairs. I could hear my friends following me.

I turned towards them. "No. You guys are not coming along. Go back upstairs and go to bed. I'll tell you about it when I get home." I looked at the clock on my phone. It was two in the morning. Who comes to someone's house at two in the morning to make up a favor? _Only Hercules, _I thought. As I walked up to him, I noticed that Hercules didn't have his car with him.

"Hey," he greeted me.

"Hi. What are you doing here?" I asked him. "And where's your car? Did you walk here?"

"So many questions, so little time. Follow me." He grabbed my hand and led me down the street to a park just down the block.

"Seriously, Herc, just tell me what we're…" I finally saw how he had gotten here. In the park's field were two horses tied to a low tree branch. The one closest to us was a bay and the other was black. "Whoa. Is this for us?"

He nodded. "You told me you had horses back on your farm and that you missed riding them. Am I correct?"

"Wow. You really do listen."

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?" He grabbed my hand and led me to the black one after untying it from the branch. "This one's yours."

I mounted the horse. It was a little difficult because there was no saddle or gear on it except for the bridle. Bareback riding was easy, in a few ways. Hercules untied and mounted the bay next to me. "So where are we going?" I asked him.

He smiled. "Follow me." He turned his horse around and walked it through the trees in the back of the park. I followed. Hercules led us down a trail I had never seen before. I thought about running my horse ahead of him and demanding where we were going, but then I figured it out myself. I hadn't realized how much closer to the beach we had gotten until we came out of the trees and actually on the smooth sand.

Hercules stopped his horse and turned to face me. "Race to the end of the beach?" he asked.

I laughed and kicked my horse. "You're on." I forced the horse beneath me into a gallop and it seemed just as glad to race as I was. I had missed the feel of a running horse and I was surprised that I could still ride correctly. I forgot all about the boy and horse behind until I heard the bay's heavy breathing and Hercules chuckle as he caught up with me.

We raced for a little while on before the horses started slowing down and Hercules slowed his to a trot. "Okay, you win. Let's just walk for now."

I giggled and slowed my horse to a trot jus as he did. "So is there anything else you want to tell me?" I asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You never told me that you wrestle. Or that you ride horses when we told each other about ourselves."

He shrugged. "Some things are better when you're surprised by them. Besides, you have things that you didn't tell me."

I knit my eyebrows together. "Explain."

"That locket of yours that hangs around your neck. You always grab it when you look uncomfortable or troubled about something." I had forgotten all about the locket.

"Oh. It's nothing. Just something my parents gave me."

"If it's something your parents gave you, then it's not nothing, Meg." He pulled his horse up next to mine and reached his hand over to grab my locket. I reached up behind my neck and unfastened it so he could see it better. He carefully examined the necklace with the light from the moon.

He grinned as he looked back up to me. "Certainly not nothing." He handed it back to me.

"Thanks." I sighed.

"Is something wrong?"

"Once again, it's nothing. You're just so…. so…. perfect."

He grimaced. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

I laughed. "Not like that. But you don't realize it. You're Mr. Perfect who knows exactly how to make a girl swoon and yet you choose to chase after me. Practically all the girls in our grade at school are already crushing on you and you want me. Why me?"

"I don't know how to put it. Hmm…. Have you ever seen those old Disney movies with the people falling in love at first sight?"

I snorted. "Please don't say that you had that happen to you when you saw me."

He shook his head. "Maybe not exactly like that. But when I saw you laughing and having a good time at Miranda's the other day, something clicked. Something inside me was telling me to talk to you and find out who you were. I don't know what it was, but I'm glad it happened."

I was speechless. "You can't be serious. Things like this just don't happen. This isn't Fairytale Land where dreams come true. This is the real world, where hearts get broken and people get hurt."

He turned his horse around so it was facing the way we had come and that he was next to me. He put my hands in his as he said, "Meg, I would never, ever hurt you." He looked so sincere, unlike so many before him that had come my way.

"Are you sure about that?" I asked, testing him.

He started leaning in. "Yes." He was so close. All I had to do was lift my chin and—.


	18. Chapter 18: Truths

Chapter 18

Hercules' POV

I leaned into her and answered her question. "Yes." She lifted her head and our lips met. I slowly moved my hands to either sides of her waist and she moved hers to the back of my neck. It would've been better if we weren't mounted on the horses, but I wasn't complaining. It just didn't seem all that real to begin with. Meg was someone who acted like she couldn't love anyone because of her past and she had put up this image for so long, I just didn't believe it. I broke the kiss and looked in her purple eyes. She seemed surprised at my sudden break but then she lowered her head and rested it on my chest. I pulled her into a hug and rested my cheek against her head. We stayed in that position for a few moments more until one of the horses snorted. Meg laughed quietly.

"I guess we should head back by now?" she offered and looked at me.

"Only if you want to."

She smiled. "Well then I guess we'll stay here if it's my decision."

"Perfect." I commented on her choice. I turned the bay back around so that we continued to ride down the beach. The tide was low and the water was warm, so we led the horses into the shallow water and sat like that for awhile.

"Meg?" I asked.

"Hmm?"

"Do you ever think you could start over? I mean, forget Darren and learn to love again?"

"It depends on who I would love. If it was you, then I'd certainly forget Darren and start over." I looked over at her. She was closing her eyes and smiling peacefully. She was so beautiful in the moonlight.

"Thanks. That's all I needed to know."

"What about you?" she quietly asked.

"Pardon?"

"Would you love me in return?"

"I already do." Her eyes snapped open and searched my face looking for any false answer to her question. "Meg, you can look for a 'no' all you want, but you'll never find it. I love you, Meg. And I don't care if you don't have mutual feelings. If you don't love me back, I'll let you go until you come back, if you ever do come back."

She looked down at her hands and her mouth formed in a circle like she was thinking of something to say. I leaned over closer to her and cupped my hand under her chin and forced her to look at me. "You don't have to say anything in return. All I really want to know is if you love me back or not."

Her hand moved up to hold mine. "Hercules, I really can't tell at the moment. I want to feel the same but right now I just don't know. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. But when you do know please tell me."

"I will." She looked into my eyes and I could tell she was telling the truth. She was confused, but telling the truth. "We'd better head back now. It'd be best for the both of us." Meg turned her horse around and forced it into a run, racing away from me and headed back to where we had come.

"Meg! Meg, wait!" I called after her and raced my horse to catch up. Why was she running? Up ahead, Meg had slowed to a trot and was letting me rejoin her. "What was that for?" I asked when we were parallel and riding again.

"When you said all that stuff back there were you being honest?"

I looked at her and she was looking at me. "Yes. Why would I be lying?"

She shrugged. "Well I'm not used to being loved. My uncle, his twins…. Darren… all those people said they loved me and then they proved that they don't. So when you told me that you loved me, I ran away."

"Aw, Meg. I…. I'm… I'm sorry." I stuttered out.

"Hercules, can I ask you something?" she asked.

"Of course." I replied. She hesitated a moment.

"Why do you love me? What about me makes me different from the girls at school that love you but you ignore?"

"If I tell you do you promise to not run off again?"

She held out her pinky and smiled. "Pinky promise. I just want to know." I wrapped my pinky around hers and let them stay there between us as we rode.

There were a lot of things I loved about Meg. So it was hard to decide which ones to say to her. "Well for starters, you're one of the prettiest girls at school. No eyes could compare with your purple ones. You're funny, interesting, smart, gentle, nice, and there's so much more about you that I just don't know what else to say. I mean, I _do _have much more to tell you, but I don't want to look like a stalker or anything."

She laughed. "Don't worry. If I thought of you as a stalker, I would've kicked your butt already." She joked. We were quiet for the rest of the way back to the park. We still had our pinkies locked together and as I walked her home we let them swing in between us. When we got back to the doorstep of her friends' house, Meg let go of my pinky.

"So I'll see you at school?"

"Oh man. I totally forgot about that."

She giggled. "It's only four in the morning. I'm sure you can sleep for two hours."

"See you then, Meg."

"Bye, Hercules." She stood on the doorstep and watched me walk down the street, back to where we had tied the horses. I untied them and led them back to the farm a few blocks away. I had to laugh at myself. This "date" was so cheesy. Meg probably thought me a freak when she saw me standing at her window but she got over it because she came outside. I put the horses back in their field and went to my car parked across the street. I drove home, not expecting for my parents to be awake.

"Mom? Dad? What are you doing awake?" I had walked into the kitchen because I had to go through it to get upstairs and my parents were at the table drinking coffee and reading the paper.

My mom looked at me. "We're always awake this early. Well, I'm not, but your father is for work. And when he got up I remembered you telling me about your 'date' with Meg, so I wanted to wait for you to get home."

Dad set down the paper he was reading. "So how'd it go?"

I shrugged and sat down at the table with them. "Good. Meg really liked the horses. Thanks for the idea. She said that she really missed riding them and stuff."

"Did you tell her how you feel?" my mom asked. Her eyes were shining. She was obsessed with all this romantic stuff.

"Yeah. I told her."

"And?"

"She doesn't know if she feels the same. She said that she's not used to people loving her because she lives with her crazy uncle Hades and his twin sons. And there was this Darren guy--."

My dad stopped me. "Wait, did you say 'her crazy uncle Hades'?" I nodded. My parents exchanged a glance. "Um, Herc, maybe it's not the best if you continue seeing Meg like this."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "And how do you know her uncle?"

"Our family and her family don't have the greatest past to live by."

"Explain." I demanded. If they didn't want me and Meg to see each other, they needed a good reason for it.

My parents exchanged a glance and my dad began talking. "Okay you've seen _Titanic _right?"

I was confused. "Um, yeah?" I put my answer into a question.

"Well everything about it is true except for a few details."

"Where are you going with this, Dad?"

"In the movie they have Rose, Cal, and Jack. Rose is your great grandmother and she was engaged to Cal. Cal is Meg's great grandfather. They were engaged just like the story said but Rose hated Cal and fell in love with Jack because—well, you know. But the real story is that when the ship was sinking, Cal pushed Jack off the ledge of the boat and killed him. Cal's family hated Rose's family because Rose cheated on him with Jack. And Rose's family hated Cal's family because Cal killed Jack."

It was a confusing story, but I got it… Kind of. "So what happened to the Heart of the Ocean?" I joked, thinking about that necklace that portrayed a big part in the movie.

Mom shrugged. "It disappeared. And it wasn't a sapphire with diamonds around it. It was a silver locket with purple flowers on it with some date engraved on it; probably the date when Cal and Rose were supposed to marry." I immediately thought of Meg's locket, but didn't say anything to my parents.

"I'm, um, going to bed. See you in a few hours." I went upstairs and thought about what all had happened in the past few hours and eventually went to sleep.

A/N: Well that's the reason why the families hate each other. It's kind of weird/confusing/kind of stupid. But oh well, my story, my decisions for the story. MUAHAHA. Ok well that was my little spazz attack moment. Anywho, thank you to the lovely blakethecupcake for helping me with this chapter. Well she only helped me with the Titanic story thing. I didn't let her read everything that happened before. I play fair!!! MUAHAHA. Peace out home skillet!


	19. Chapter 19: Arguments

AH! I totally forgot to write disclaimers on past chapters! I don't really know if anything will happen to me because of that, but if so, I'm going to say it here: I don't own anything except the plot, character's personalities, and a few characters. Everything else belongs to Disney. Yay! Now that I have that over with, on with the story!!

Chapter 19

Meg's POV

I stood on the doorstep watching Hercules go. _Wow, _I thought, _what a night. _Hercules said he loved me. I didn't exactly know how I felt about that. Sure, he was a great guy. Certainly better than most people I've dated in the past. He was just so perfect and I felt horrible about it. I didn't deserve to be with someone so perfect like him and he shouldn't waste his time on me. But deep down in me I knew that if he stopped, I wouldn't be able to take it.

I watched him disappear down the block, back to where we had left the horses. I smiled to myself and went inside. Sure enough, everyone was waiting for me to get home. They had followed me down the stairs and were in the living room on the couches. I guess they had fallen asleep waiting for me to return. I quietly snuck upstairs and went into my room and thought about everything that had happened in the past few hours and somewhere around there I fell asleep.

I was quickly wakened by Shelly jumping on my bed followed by Max, Lic, Blake, and Iris. "Meg, tell! What happened last night?" Shelly asked excitedly.

"Let me wake up first _without _you attacking me." The jumping stopped. I opened my eyes and sat up crossed legged. "I'll start where you guys left." And from there I told them what had happened. Not all of it, but all that they needed to know.

Felicity slapped my arm. "Why didn't you tell him you love him back?"

I rubbed the spot she had hit. "Because I don't know if I feel the same. I mean, yeah, I _do _feel something about him, but maybe not as strongly as him."

"Meg, come _on_," Iris started. "You like him, he likes you, get together already!"

"I…I…," I looked at the clock, "I have to get ready for school and so do you." I kicked them out of my room and got ready for school which didn't take long because I just kept on the same clothes I already had from the surprise date thing. Thinking about what Hercules did made me think about what he had asked me. Could I ever start over and love again? I could certainly forget about Darren, no question about that. And the only person I could think of to start over with was Hercules. It was hard _not _to like him. And loving him would be no different. But I just didn't know if I was ready for it. I shook my head trying to clear my mind, putting those thoughts in the very back of it.

I went down to the kitchen to try and think of something to eat but nothing really appealed to me. I looked at the clock on the oven by the fridge. I rolled my eyes and called up the stairs. "Guys, I'm going! See you there!" I went outside to drive to school.

When I got into my car I noticed a single red rose in the dashboard. There wasn't a note or anything else attached to it, but I was pretty sure it was from Hercules. I smiled as I reached for the rose and held it. I didn't question my feelings for him anymore. And I had promised him he would know when I figured it all out. I sped to our school and looked all over the campus for him but I couldn't find him anywhere.

"Meg! Meg!" Someone was calling my name from behind me. I turned around. It was Ed and Maxie.

"Hey, guys. Have you seen Hercules?"

"Yeah. He's looking for you." Maxie said. "And you have some unfinished storytelling for me." She accused.

"Sorry Max. I'll tell you when I get everything settled and organized with Herc. But I got to find him. Where is he?"

Ed pointed behind me. "Right there." I turned around and saw him getting out of his car in the school's parking lot. I said "Thanks" to Maxie and Ed over my shoulder as I ran to him.

"Hey!" I said. He turned around and his face lit up.

"Why hello back to you. Someone's excited this morning. Did you get the flower?"

I smiled and nodded. "Thanks. It was really sweet. But how'd you get it there?"

He shrugged. "I have my ways."

I rolled my eyes. "But there's something I have to tell you."

"I have to tell you something too."

I smirked. "You first." He looked around.

"Maybe here isn't the best place. I'll tell you in science, okay?"

"Uh, sure." We started to walk toward the campus to meet up with Maxie and Ed again. He grabbed one of my fingers, seeing if I'd be okay with walking hand-in-hand. I grabbed the rest of his hand and we walked like that the rest of the way to the campus.

"Okay I'm just going to tell you know." Hercules said.

"You're really excited about this, aren't you?" I asked him.

"Well you said your uncle hates me for some unsolved reason, right?" I nodded. "Reason solved. I was telling my parents about you and I quoted you saying "crazy Uncle Hades" and my parents flipped out." And he continued telling me about how we were related to the people from _Titanic _and that Rose was his great grandmother and Cal was my great grandfather.

"Dang it." I said when he finished.

"What's wrong?" he asked me.

I shrugged. "Just Cal is such an ass. I don't want to be related to him."

Hercules laughed and put an arm around my shoulders. "Good thing you're nothing like him."

"Yeah, good thing." I said. The warning bell rang then and we had to rush to science. It was about the middle of class and I was about to fall asleep when Hercules poked me with the eraser on his pencil. I looked at him. "What?" He pointed to a note that he had passed me and mouthed, "Read it." I grabbed the piece of paper and opened it in my lap so Mr. Moller wouldn't see.

"Meg," the note said, "I forgot to tell you one thing. You know in the movie _Titanic, _Cal gives Rose a necklace with sapphires and diamonds? Well turns out that it was actually a locket that looked just like yours." My eyes bugged out when I read this part. I looked at Hercules. He shrugged and got up. I hadn't noticed class had ended.

"But how? It makes no sense. Cal gives Rose the necklace, so why do I have it if your family had it?"

He shrugged again. "Somewhere along the line it got to you. But isn't that a little ironic?"

"What is?"

Hercules shook his head. "Never mind."

For the rest of the day we spoke mainly about what we had just figured out and I never got the chance to tell him what I wanted to. It was the end of the school day and Hercules was walking me to my car.

"Hey I have a match tonight at seven if you, your friends, and the guys want to come. I need all the support."

I smiled. "Sure, I'll see you then." I got into my car and drove home. I called Blake on the way home and asked them if they could come. All five of them could and they would pick me up on the way to the match. I quickly did my homework, took a shower, and got ready for the wrestling match all with no interruption from my uncle or cousins. But that didn't last long. "Megara!" I heard coming from downstairs. _Uh-oh_, I thought. Hades never used my full name unless something was wrong.

"Yes, oh Great Uncle?" I asked sarcastically.

"Come down here." I rolled my eyes.

"One second! I just got to finish something!"

"NOW!" I jumped when he yelled this at the top of his lungs. I got up and went downstairs, looking at the alarm clock on my nightstand as I went by. 3:00.I saw my uncle holding the rose Hercules had left in my car.

"What is this?" he asked me and referred to the flower like it was a bloody knife.

I crossed my arms across my chest. "It depends. What were you doing snooping around in my car?"

He glared at me. "I pay for it; I have a right to snoop."

"It's just a rose that a friend gave me."

"Oh really? Which friend?" he asked sarcastically. "Blake? Felicity? Maxie?"

"No…" I dragged out the answer slowly, afraid of what would happen if I told him the truth. Hades raised an eyebrow, looking for a thorough answer. I took a deep breath then let it out in one quiet word. "Hercules." I barely said it audibly, but somehow, my uncle had heard it.

"_What _was that name again?" he glared at me with his beady yellow eyes.

I threw my hands up in the air. "Hercules! Okay? Yeah, that's right. Yes, you forbade me to see or talk or even _breathe _around the guy. Yes, I defied your orders. But have you forgotten that I am a legal adult and I turned eighteen just days ago and I can do whatever I want to do?"

He walked over to me and put his hands on my cheeks. "Oh little 'Nutmeg'," I slapped his hands off my face at that nickname, "have you forgotten that since you have nothing without me that you're stuck with me and have to obey me?"

I put my hands on my hips. "And have _you _forgotten that because of the farm my parents owned I brought thousands of dollars to your household and saved you from going broke?"

He opened his mouth to retort back but couldn't think of anything to say back. I smirked and started to walk around him but he stopped me by grabbing my arm. "Meg, please listen. This Hercules guy, so not your type."

I turned to him. "Oh really? And _what_, pray tell, is my type exactly? Heartbreakers? Cheaters? Jerks?"

Hades shrugged. "Well other than that one little fact that he cheated on you, I didn't mind Darren all that much. But _Hercules_? Seriously, you can do better than that."

"And what would be better than him? He's perfect. I don't see why you hate him so much. I know all about the Titanic incident. If Rose had married Cal, we'd all be related and you wouldn't hate him. But you know what? I'm glad Rose hated Cal because then I never would have realized what a great person Hercules is and I never would have realized that I love him more than I did any other person!" I gasped as I said this. I wasn't planning on actually saying that… well not loud anyways. I looked at my uncle. He was fuming.

"I hate not only him, but his whole family--." I cut him off.

"Well turns out they hate us just as well. But I'd really like to know why you do."

"As I was saying, I hate them because they stole the necklace that had been in our family for generations and no one has retrieved it since your great grandfather Cal gave it to Rose. It's probably somewhere undetected in the ocean."

"Do you know what the necklace looked like?" I asked him, knowing that if he answered wrong then he would have no idea that my parents had given it to me and that it was hanging on my neck.

"Just like the necklace in the movie. A sapphire surrounded in diamonds."

I snorted. "You really need to learn the actual story rather than go by the movie's way."

"Well it's not like _you _know where that necklace could be--." He cut off as his eyes were fixated on the locket around my neck. He started walking towards me to grab it, but not before I could run out the door and into my car, driving to where I knew was the safest place possible, just twenty-five short minutes away.


	20. Chapter 20: Tree House

Everything belongs to Disney except the plotline, Meg's friends, the friends' boyfriends, Hercules' family, and Meg's cousins. ENJOY!

Chapter 20

Meg's POV

I drove the twenty-five minutes it would take to get back to my old house. I parked by the curb and stared at my childhood home for a few moments, trying to relive m life there and forget about everything I had just left behind in Los Angeles. I got out of the car and ran towards the backyard. It was beautiful. Fields with grazing horses and cows, one barn, and an old oak tree, which held where I was mainly going to. My tree house. I looked up at the old tree from its base. The wooden planks my father had put in were still there, so I climbed up. I didn't know why I came. I just knew that this was the best place to forget everything, which was exactly what I had to do. I had grown too big to stand up like I used to, but crawling was still an option.

I sat down in the middle of the tree house and looked around. Faded drawings of random things still were engraved on the walls. There were a lot of leaves and twigs on the floor and some branches had grown in through the windows, but it was my tree house nonetheless. I coughed as some dust came up when I picked up a drawing. The drawing was of me and my parents. Yeah, we were a little disfigured, but, hey, I was six.

"Meg? You up here?" A voice called from down below. My head shot up. It wasn't my uncle, so it certainly wasn't Alexander and Anthony. _Crap_, I thought, _it's one of the neighbors. _"Meg, I know you're here. I saw your car. It's Hercules."

"Are you stalking me or something?" I called back.

"See, I knew it." He climbed up. "Is this your tree house?"

"Hey, I asked you a question first. What are you doing here?" He sat down next to me.

"I called your house to see if you got some people to come tonight and when your uncle, rather rudely, told me you weren't home, I called your friends and they said that they were going but they had no idea where you were. But then they also said that you sometimes come here to wind down if something's wrong. So I'm guessing something's wrong?"

I shrugged. "Not really. I just got in an argument with my uncle and he started reaching for my locket. So I did the first thing I could think of; run away and hide in my tree house. This wasn't really the greatest place to hide since someone found me." I nudged him with my elbow.

Hercules examined the drawings on the wall. "Did you really draw all of these?" he asked me as he picked up the one of my family. He looked at me. "Cute."

"I was six! Just wait until I see your childhood things."

"And what makes you so sure that you'll be doing that?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. If you keep following me everywhere I'm most likely going to find something out."

"Are you saying that you still want to hang out even though our families hate each other?"

I put my face in my hand and rested my elbow on my knee. "No, I'm suddenly going to listen to my uncle and take his advice that you aren't my type." I looked at him and smiled.

He frowned. "He really said that?" I nodded. "Do you agree with him?"

"No."

He smiled then. "Good. Because if you did, I don't know what I'd be more surprised at. You actually were listening to Hades or you not liking me."

"Why would you be surprised if I didn't like you?"

"Are you saying that you don't like me?" He pushed a stray strand of hair that had fallen across my face back behind my ear and put his hand on my shoulder.

"No. I don't want you to think that because…" Am I really going to tell him now? I couldn't stop right there. He'd think me a fool. I glanced at him. He was looking right at me. Oh God. It's now or never.

"Because?" He encouraged.

"Because I might just feel the same way about you that you feel about me." I whispered.

"You might?" I shrugged and tried to think of another way to put it. I thought back to previous conversations we had about me and my past relationships.

"Remember when I came over to your house and when you and I were cleaning up dinner, I referred to me as Cinderella and my life as some screwed up fairy tale?" Hercules nodded. "And you said that Prince Charming was right around the corner?" He nodded again. "Well that spot for Prince Charming is still open, if you want to be him." I smiled and looked up at him.

Herc seemed to let this soak in, then after a few moments his face lit up into a huge smile and he pulled me in for a hug. I hugged him back and we stayed like that for what felt like hours, even though it was just a few minutes. It felt perfect; my head resting where his neck met his shoulders, his cheek resting on top of my head, our arms around each other, without a care in the world.

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter. I just ended it because there's a lot that happens in the next one and I didn't want to make it a billion pages long. Okay, so it wouldn't have been that many pages, but I'm just saying. Please review! It makes me very very happy!!!


	21. Chapter 21: Deja Vu

Chapter 21

Meg's POV

It felt perfect. Just until Hercules' phone rang. He laughed slightly. "Always getting interrupted." He said as he pulled out his phone and answered it. "Phil?" He waited a beat. "Yeah, Phil. Yes, I know there's a match tonight, but—practice right now? Phil, I… yeah, okay. See you in a few." He hung up and looked at me.

"I'm guessing you have to go to practice and face Phil?" He nodded. I shrugged. "Well, I probably have to face my uncle, too. Trust me, Phil's probably better." I got up from the tree house floor and headed towards the door. Hercules stopped me by grabbing my hand.

"You're still coming tonight, right?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I?"

He shrugged. "Well maybe you could come to the practice. It's not really a private practice because it's mainly a warm-up for the match and since everyone's already going to be there, you should come."

I smiled. "Okay. So I'll follow you to the school then?" He nodded and we headed down. I followed him in my car back to town and to Oceanview. On the way we passed Iris, Maxie, Felicity, Shelly, and Blake's house as they were getting into the car. I honked a hello to them and they waved back. When we all got to the school, Hercules led us to the back of the building, towards the athletic parking lot. He parked and met with me at my car and led me in to where his match would be held.

When we walked through the doors of the gym, the stands were already filled with lots of people waiting to see the match. We walked to the center of the gym floor where the rest of the team was listening to a short middle aged man giving a lecture. Once the man spotted Hercules, he dismissed the group and came to us.

"Phil, this is Meg. Meg, Phil." Hercules introduced and gestured to one another. I gave a half hearted wave and Phil did the same before he started lecturing Herc.

"Kid, where have you been? You missed practice all today and now you show up late to the match? What's with you?"

Hercules looked around the stands that weren't completely full yet. "Uh, Phil. The match hasn't even started, so technically I'm not late."

Phil opened his mouth to say something, but closed it, making him looked more like a goat than he already did with his stubby legs, red goatee, and red spiky hair. Phil grabbed Hercules' arm and led him towards the rest of the team. "C'mon kid. Say goodbye to your girlfriend and let's go!"

Hercules laughed. "Okay, okay."

"I'm sorry." I apologized. "You shouldn't have skipped today."

Hercules shrugged. "Eh, he'll get over it." He looked over my shoulder. "Looks like your friends are here. I'll see you later." He kissed my cheek and went towards his on looking team. I blushed and turned to the gym door that my friends and the guys had just walked through.

"Hey, guys." I greeted them.

Shelly smiled. "Meg, is there something you forgot to tell us?"

"Uh. I don't know."

"Meg has a boyfriend! Meg has a boyfriend!" Shelly started saying in a sing-song voice as we climbed the bleacher stairs. I put a hand over her mouth. "Be quiet." She shrugged, smiled, and continued to whisper her new favorite saying to herself as we sat down.

The wrestling match was a tough one. Oceanview was neck-and-neck with the visiting school-- no one really knew the name and no one really cared—and our only chance of winning the match was if Hercules defeated the visiting school's biggest competitor, Drake. The referee blew his whistle and Hercules and Drake started. Hercules quickly pinned down Drake and won the whole match for us. The crowd got on their feet and started cheering for Hercules.

All of a sudden, the scene looked too familiar; the sporting event, the victory, the athlete who just won was my boyfriend, and the crowd going crazy. Blake looked at me. "Meg, you okay? You look a little nervous."

I looked at her. "Yeah, um, sorry. I'm fine. It's just…" Blake looked around and realized my situation. "I think I'll go home. Hades probably still has to yell at me for running out on him. I'll find Hercules and say bye. See you later." Blake gave me a quick hug as I left.

I looked around the gym for Hercules and spotted Phil. "Hey, Phil. Do you know where Herc went?"

He pointed to the doors. "I saw him go out there with his family a few minutes ago."

"Thanks!" I said as I walked through the door. And as soon as I did, my heart broke again into a thousand pieces.

Hercules' POV

I had just won the match for my whole school. The crowds went wild and my team, coach, and family all attacked me with congratulatory wishes. After a few minutes of pats on the back and cheers, my family decided it was time to go and they quickly led me out to the parking lot. There they surprised me with my cousin, Amanda. I hadn't seen her in a few years and at first I didn't recognize her. She had lost all her baby fat, finally, and was now tall and tan. She had also dyed her hair dark brown, a color that suited her much better than the frizzy blonde hair that she had grown up with. But what really changed about Amanda was the diamond ring on the ring finger of her left hand.

"Hercules! Congrats!" she said as she came up to hug me. We had grown up as best friends when we were little and we were still just as close. Except she didn't tell me about the ring or anything of the sort when I had talked to her a few days ago.

"Amanda! You changed." I accused her. She smiled.

"Yeah. I did change." She finally showed my family her ring. "In a lot of ways. I'm getting married in a month. You people had better come."

I hugged Amanda again just as Meg was coming out of the gym doors. I turned around and saw Meg looking like the world had just ended on her. "Meg, what's—." Then I realized how the situation looked to her. I quickly stopped hugging Amanda and tried to stop Meg, but she just bit her lip, shook her head, and ran towards her car without a word.

"Who was that?" Amanda asked quietly behind me. But I didn't answer. I was too bust running after Meg, trying to stop her.

"Meg! Wait! It's not what you think! Please stop!" I called after Meg, but she drove away before I could catch her. I stood there where her car used to be parked, staring as Meg drove away.

Meg's POV

I lay down on my bed, listening to the end of _White Horse _by Taylor Swift. It was the first song on the playlist I had made when I found out the truth about Darren. I had never thought I'd be listening to it again, but here I was in my room, crying, as Demi Lovato's _Gonna Get Caught _filled the room. Hercules had called me a thousand times and texted me a thousand more but I didn't answer to a single one. Eventually I had to unplug my land line from the wall and turn off my cell phone. I stayed like that all night. There was a knock at my door.

"Go away." I said hoarsely. It would've been my uncle and I really didn't feel like seeing him. He opened the door anyway.

"Meg, what's the matter? You can tell me." He sat down on the edge of my bed.

I threw a pillow over my face. "Why do you even care? When I first acted like this because of Darren you didn't give a crap. All of a sudden, when Hercules pulls the same stunt Darren did you actually pay attention?" Hades pulled the pillow away from my face.

"Hercules did this, huh? What is with his family and breaking people's hearts?" I rolled my eyes and turned over so I was lying on my stomach. "Meg, babe--."

"Don't call me that. I'm not anybody's 'babe'. I don't belong to anyone."

"Okay then, Meg, forget that guy. Forget every guy that has ever done anything bad to you." I turned my head to look at him.

"You're really saying that with a straight face. I'm impressed."

"Pardon?"

"You told me to forget every guy that has ever done anything bad to me. I just wanted to make sure that you didn't grow a Pinocchio nose, considering _you _have been one of those people you told me to forget." I smirked at him as he glared right back.

"Hey, I was just trying to comfort you." Hades got up from my bed and left my room, leaving me as I was before.


	22. Chapter 22: Dream Land

Chapter 22

Hercules' POV

It was late. I didn't know how late exactly. But the moon was high up in the sky shining as bright as ever and the stars around it added to the light. The light was preventing me from sleep, but I couldn't sleep anyways. I had made a huge mistake, even if it was just a misunderstanding. Meg thought that I was cheating on her with Amanda, which was a crazy thing to think. Amanda and I were cousins. But Meg didn't know that and now I felt horrible. I had to think of a way to get Meg talking to me again. I had called her cell phone and her home phone, I had texted her, emailed her, and done everything there is except send a flock of carrier pigeons to her window, which wasn't such a bad idea. I was in the middle of trying to figure out where I could get said pigeons when a light knock at my door interrupted my thoughts. I didn't say anything; maybe whoever it was would think I was sleeping and go away. But she knew me too well and she came in.

"Hercules?" Amanda poked her head through the small opening she made through the door. "Something's wrong and I know it. Something happened when that girl saw me and I feel awful about it, whatever _it _exactly is."

"She's not just 'that girl'. She's… she's…" I couldn't finish my sentence. Meg was everything. "She's Meg."

Amanda came and sat on my bed. "So what did my presence do to make her run off like that?"

I winced, remembering Meg's hurt face. "It's a long story."

Amanda shrugged her skinny shoulders. "It's only midnight."

I let out a half-laugh. "Always the night owl you are."

"So tell me!" She slapped the bed with one hand and punched my knee with the other.

I rolled my eyes and told her all about Meg and Darren and what had happened with him and what all I had done to Meg to try and get her past him. "…So when she saw me hugging you at the game that I had just won…"

Amanda's face was in horror. "She thought the same thing that had happened with Darren was happening with you! Oh Hercules I feel terrible! If I had known, I wouldn't have hugged you—_touched _you even!" I closed my eyes, trying to drown out her horror-struck face, but her voice didn't die down at all. "Hercules, we need to do something!"

"We?" I opened one eye and saw her head nodding. "I don't want to pull you more into this than you already are."

"No. I am going to help you figure out a way to get Meg back. I'm not just going to let you two separate with this all being my fault. Hercules, listen to me, the way you talk about her… it's crazy. You talk about Meg as if you don't notice any other girl on the street, as if nothing mattered to you so much except her. Your whole face lights up at the thought of her. Hercules, you love her. And I'm not going to let that end."

I sat up from the position that I was laying in and looked at her mischievous expression. "I know that look. What are you planning?"

"Let's just say you'll be doing more than throwing rocks at her window." She leaned forward and whispered her plan in my ear and left my room, waiting for me to get ready.

Meg's POV

It had gotten a little stuffy in my room and _someone _still hadn't called the repair company to come fix the broken air conditioning in the house, so I had opened my window to get some fresh air into the small room of mine. It was dark, my room only lit by the full moon and street lamps outside. I lay on my back on my bed staring at the ceiling and its glow-in-the-dark sticky stars I had put up a while ago. It was rather funny actually. When one of the stars wouldn't be directly in my line of sight, it would shine very bright. But when I looked directly at it, it would die down to a very dim light or not shine at all—sort of like people. You thought you knew a person and what they were made of until you looked at them directly and realized what they were really like.

Somewhere around midnight I fell asleep dreaming about random little pointless dreams. I kept hearing a weird knocking sound throughout my sleep. It didn't stop and I realized that it was coming from the real world, not dream world. I carefully opened my eyes and looked around my room without moving from the position I was already in. Alexander and Anthony had pulled stunts like this on me before and I wasn't taking any chances, even though I had beaten the crap out of the two when they did. The knocking continued and I finally sat up.

"Whatever you're doing in here, you'd better get out now," I threatened my room, "or forever hold your peace in your grave."

But the knocking still continued from my window. I turned my head and squinted my eyes at the sudden light in my eyes from outside through the window. I blinked a few times and noticed that the tapping was coming from down below. Cautiously, I walked over and peered out. The first thing I saw was a tiny pebble from the neighbor's garden next door being thrown at me. The second thing I saw, after swiftly dodging the pebble, was the thrower of the pebble and the maker of the knocking: Hercules.

I didn't say anything, I just stared at him silently and he stared back just as silent. I realized that on this midnight trip to wake-me-up-and-throw-pebbles-at-my-window he had a car with him. And not only a car. The driver was the girl I had seen with him after his match and they were both staring up at me with hope in their eyes. Probably only to see if I had given the clear to Hercules that I didn't care squat about him and they could continue on. After a few minutes Hercules finally called up, "Meg, we need to talk."

"Trust me, Hercules, there's nothing to talk about and if there was, I certainly wouldn't talk with you."

"Meg, listen. Please… it's not what you think--."

"Are you really going to say that with a straight face?"

He shrugged, "I'm planning to."

"Just… just leave, okay?" I slammed my window shut and went back to my bed, putting my pillow over my face to drown out any noise, light, thought, or anything connected to the real world and tried to get back to my dream land. I fell back to sleep quickly, but for a short time. The pillow was lifted off my head and I was staring into Hercules' face. I opened my mouth to scream but he quickly covered it with his hand and I screamed into that. A few seconds after I was done screaming he carefully lifted his hand and I sat up quickly during this moment of confusion. Hercules was in my bedroom at night while I was sleeping, sitting at the edge _of my bed_! Could that get anymore creepier?

"You had better--." He put his hand over my mouth again. I glared at him.

"I'll let you speak if you promise not to be loud, harm me, get your uncle or cousins, and let me finish what I came here to say. You can interrupt me as much as you want, but you have to let me finish what I came here for." He stared at me intensely. "Promise?"

I nodded my head once and he dropped his hand. "You had better have a good reason for being here and having the crazy thought of coming in through my window in the middle of the night." I said quickly. Hercules sat still at the end of my bed, waiting for me to finish. "I am done."

"Meg, listen. That girl you saw me with--."

"That girl you were with? Is that the name you're going to put on her? I'd really like to know her name."

His shoulders dropped a bit. "Her name's Amanda. And she's not as bad as you think she is because she's--."

"Because she's sweet and charming and funny and everything you ever wanted? Yeah, that's the first thing I thought of Lydia before I saw her and Darren eating each other. Are you really going to act like what I saw this evening never happened? That it was just something that hasn't happened to me before? Because, trust me, it has happened and you knew about that. You knew about me more than anyone else ever has. You even knew more about me than I did!

"And you have me come to your match and then break my heart at the end of it, and you of all people decide to come to my house in the middle of the night with that… that…"

"She's my cousin!" Hercules put his hands on either side of my face and pulled his face close to mine. "Meg, listen to me. Amanda is my cousin! I was never cheating on you! Do you honestly think that I would ever pull something as low and dirty as that? Even if you wanted me to, I wouldn't be able to. I just don't have the strength to do that to you.

"Meg, _you _are sweet and charming and funny and everything I ever wanted. Even more than I ever wanted. _You _are the one that I wanted to hold after I won tonight and if it hadn't been for my family forcing me outside and the crowd that attacked me, I would have. And I can't have you mad at me like this. I can't take it. I was a wreck when you drove off and ignored all my messages.

"And I love you enough to do something as crazy as sneak in through your window in the middle of the night to tell you the truth, instead of telling you some fake apology on a highway and then dumping you on the side of the road. I love you enough to take whatever you dish out on me if you don't believe what I'm saying to you." He stopped to point out the window. "And I love you enough to jump out the window if you want me to. But I can't have you hating me."

He hadn't needed to continue on with all this. I had instantly forgiven him when he told me about Amanda being his cousin. "But, if she's your cousin, why were you hugging her?"

He smiled and pulled out a white envelope from his back pocket. "She was telling me that she was engaged and her wedding is in a month. I was hugging her for congratulation." He handed me the envelope and I felt a thick card inside. "I told her all about you and what had happened and she felt terrible for making this all happen, even though it wasn't her fault. So because she felt horrible she insisted on inviting you to her wedding, which I would have asked you to come as my date anyways."

I stared at the invitation in my hand. Everything made sense now and if it hadn't been for my short temper, we wouldn't have been in this mess in the first place. "Hercules, I don't know what to say."

"Well there's two yes or no questions you have to answer and that's pretty much all you really have to say. It all depends on your answer if I'm going back through that window or not."

I smiled. "Well your going back through that window either way because my uncle would PMS more than he already does if he saw you coming out of my room this late at night." I looked back up at him. His hands were still on either side of my face. "So what are my questions?"

"Do you forgive me and will you be my date to Amanda's wedding?"

"I thought you'd never ask." I leaned in to him and kissed him, all the while entering a better world that I would have ever dreamed up in my sleep.

**A/N: Woo hoo!!!! I finally updated on this! I am so very sorry for the long wait. Writer's block is not a fun partner when trying to write. But here it is! Expect another chapter in the next couple days, either that or wait until after the 13****th****. I'm going on vacation on the third and there'll be no computer which means no Word or Internet. But please send in comments, reviews, and everything else! Every review that I get before I leave means another pretty seashell that I will add to my soon-to-be collection. :-)**


	23. Chapter 23: Happily Ever After

**A/N: Let me just say that I never expected my story to get this far. I seriously was just thinking that it would end somewhere around chapter 10, but here I am on chapter 23. WOW. So here is a big thanks to everyone who had reviewed and read and just stuck with this story: THANK YOU! Now that that is out of the way, on with the show… er… story!**

Chapter 23

Meg's POV

Hercules had left after we had made up and I was finally able to get some sleep on through morning. I ran through what all had happened that day repeatedly until the sun was high in the sky and my stomach rumbled. I had completely forgotten it was Saturday. I quickly got dressed and went downstairs to find Hades reading the newspaper at the kitchen table.

"Morning!" I said, not really realizing the happy tone in my voice towards someone who usually wouldn't make me happy.

Hades looked up from his paper suspiciously, "You're oddly happy for how you were last night."

I shrugged while getting a glass of orange juice, "Things changed in the night and I'm a lot better now."

"Care to explain?" Hades put down his paper, fully aware of my mood change. I turned around and looked at him studiously. Would he really be this curious if he really knew what happened last night? He'll probably go crazy, but he's already crazy enough, so why not?

I shrugged again, "Hercules and I made up, is all."

"But didn't you turn off your phone and computer?"

"I never said anything about talking on the phone or computer. I was kind of forced to talk to him. He kind of… sort of… snuck in through my… window."

He raised an eyebrow. "I thought I told you to stay away from him."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "And I thought I told _you _that I'm a legal adult now. I can do whatever I want."

"As long as you live in this house, you will obey what I say." And when he said that, I had finally figured out something that I was so stupid as to not figure it out before.

"As long as I live under your roof, huh? Well then, fine, I'll move out. I'll take my parents' inheritance like I should have a long time ago and I'll buy back my house. No one's bought it. It's still for sale. I'll take back everything that's rightfully mine as soon as I can and that's right now."

Four weeks after that little declaration was made, I was finally and comfortably situated back in the house that I had lived in all those years ago. The neighbors next door, who were also my parents' best friends, had taken the farm and all the animals on it from my parents' will. They had agreed on letting me still help care the animals and ride them if I wanted to. School had ended and summer had started. Next year, I'd be a senior. That was scary. But I was planning on not worrying about that this summer. I was more focused on making this the greatest summer I've ever had because this year I had someone to enjoy it with.

My phone vibrated in my pocket as I was grooming Bubba, my favorite horse on the farm. I checked the caller ID. "Hey Hercules. What's up?"

"Are you ready yet?" Hercules asked.

"What do you mean? Ready for what?"

"Uh, Meg, the wedding is today. It's noon. The wedding is at three. Did you forget?"

Crap. Amanda's wedding. Luckily, I wasn't a bridesmaid or anything. "Hah, why would you think I forgot?"

"You forgot didn't you?"

"Maybe…" Bubba snorted behind me as if he understood the conversation.

He chuckled. "Alright. Drop the grooming brush and go get ready. I'll see you in an hour."

"Bye." I hung up, put away the grooming supplies, quickly refilled Bubba's water bucket, and closed the stall door before I ran back to my house and got ready. I quickly showered and dried my hair. I tried to do something with it, but it was hopeless, so I just kept it down. I dressed into the dress that Maxie and Felicity had helped me pick out; it was strapless with a black-and-white checkerboard pattern with a black ribbon around the waist. I had just finished putting on a pair of black heels when the doorbell rang.

"Coming!" I yelled as I opened the door. And I must say, it was pretty adorable seeing someone as muscular and tall as Hercules in a suit. I smiled, "Hey."

"We're late. Let's go." He grabbed my hand and led me to his car and we drove off to the church near Manhattan Beach.

Everyone in the church was talking in hushed excitement. When the wedding march finally sounded off at three, people quickly took their seats and stopped talking. It was a beautiful ceremony and the reception took place on a yacht that Amanda and her new husband had rented in a marina near the church.

After the good luck toast to Amanda and her new husband, Jack, Hercules wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and whispered in my ear, "Do you wanna go outside? It's a lot less… crazy… out there." He said while looking at a few attendees who had already gone drunk.

I muffled a laugh, "But it's a lot funnier in here." His arms tightened.

"We need to talk." Uh-oh. That was never good. I looked at him and there must have been some kind of alarm in my eyes because he reassured me, "It's nothing bad." And before I could protest, he stood me up from my chair and grabbed my hand and led me to the outside deck that faced the rest of the marina and the bay that led into the Pacific Ocean. Hercules' steps slowed down and he dropped my hand.

"Herc, what's wrong?" He was leaning against the railing on the end of the boat. I joined him and put my hand on top of his. "Are you okay?"

He shook his head. "I can't help but feel like this is my entire fault."

"What are you talking about?"

"What happened right before school ended?"

"The Amanda thing?" This was strange; we hadn't spoken of this at all since he had snuck into my room. Hercules didn't speak, so I took that as my cue to go on. "Herc, that wasn't your fault. It was mine. I was just being stupid and let what happened in the past take over."

"No, Meg. I hurt you. I hurt you bad. And I wasn't even trying to hurt you. And I hate that part. I wasn't even trying to hurt you and I did. So what would happen if I _did _try to hurt you? Not saying that I would. I never would. But if I did try, how much more would I hurt you then?"

My hand tightened around his and I turned him to face me. "Hercules, listen to me. Stop thinking about that. I completely forgot about it until now. You didn't do anything, okay? Let me take the blame for once. You're always doing nice things for me and never letting me return them back and then I feel guilty. But that's not gonna happen now. Because, Hercules, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me. You're sweet and funny and caring and smart and considerate and honest and kind and generous. When I'm around you, I completely forget how suckish my life has been the past few years. You make me feel like I'm a princess with the whole world at my feet. I'm planning on making this the best summer of my life and I'm planning on spending it with you."

He stared at me with a slightly amused look.

"What?" I asked him.

"Nothing about my looks?" He smiled.

I lightly smacked his arm. "Do you really think I care about that?" I didn't care about that, even though it could definitely be a topper. His bright blue eyes that when he looked into my mine I felt as if I was in a whole different universe. His amazing bright white smile that took my breath away whenever he let it show.

Hercules cupped his hand underneath my chin. "I take your breath away?"

"Did I say that out loud?" He nodded. "Well then there you go."

Hercules smiled again. "And while we're on the subject of looks, you look really pretty tonight, Meg."

"You don't look too bad yourself." I commented while straightening his clip-on tie. We heard light footsteps behind us. We both turned around and saw Amanda walking towards us, smiling.

"So, uh, I guess we didn't properly get introduced." Amanda started. "I'm Amanda." I shook her hand.

"And I'm Meg. Sorry about what all happened. I've just had a few mishaps in the past."

Amanda shook her head, still smiling. "I understand. Hercules explained everything to me. I would have acted the same way if anyone pulled something like Darren did. Good thing we both have great guys, don't we? Which reminds me, I gotta get back to mine." She gave us a wave and walked back into the reception.

I turned to Hercules. "She's cool."

"Yeah, I hope you don't mind me telling her about Darren and everything."

I shrugged. "She had a right to know. And she was right."

Hercules knit his eyebrows together. "Right about what?"

I wrapped my arms around his neck. "About me having a great guy."

Hercules smiled and put his hands on my hips. "And I have a great girl to match." He bent his head and kissed me

I stood up on my toes and kissed him back. And in that kiss I realized I had finally found my Happily Ever After: I was free from Hades, it was summertime, I had awesome friends, and I had also found my Prince Charming.

**A/N: Happily Ever After! Yay! So there's my lovely story. I hope everyone who read and reviewed, or just read, or just reviewed (but then again, you can't really review without reading) liked it! Big thanks to disney-fr3ak, .chan, blakethecupcake, daisy866, felicityfranchesaa' and everyone else for sticking with the story. Love you all!!**


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